The Serpent, the Lioness, and the Dog
by Bex-La-Get
Summary: After her break-up with Ron, Hermione goes on a vacation for a little R&R to clear her mind. She's surprised to find, however, she's not the only one recovering from a break-up. What happens when two former school enemies find peace and comfort with each other? Dramione. Disclaimer: All right's belong to J.K. Rowling.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: So I swore to myself i wasn't going to post this story before I had more written but I have no self control and I got really excited to see what you guys would think so I'm posting it now. Just like the Next Gen story, however, it is a work in progress and updates will be scarce for the time being since I'm trying to write both stories at once (I don't know how some of these authors do it). Anyway, I hope you guys like it. Please review!**_

 _ **Tallyho!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 1:**

Hermione hesitated before opening the front door to her flat. Today was the day: the day she would break off her engagement with Ron. For the last few months she had been feeling nothing but dread as the wedding approached and she finally acknowledged why: she no longer loved Ron the way she once had. Sure, she still loved him but only as a friend. One year ago, she couldn't wait to be Mrs. Ron Weasley and start her life with the man she had loved since she was fifteen but now, she wasn't so sure that's what she wanted anymore. All she knew was that she wasn't about to marry Ron out of pity. She wasn't that kind of person and Ron deserved better than that. He deserved to marry someone who was madly in love with him and, sadly, that person was no longer Hermione.

Finding her resolve, she took a deep breath and opened the door. "Ron?" she asked, walking into the mudroom. "Ron, are you here?" She asked again as she placed her bag and shoes on the small table next to the door. "I'm in here, Hermione," she heard Ron reply. Taking another deep breath, she walked into the living room to find Ron sitting on the couch looking nervous. Immediately, she knew he could tell something was wrong. She swallowed.

"We need to talk," they said at the same time. Hermione's brows furrowed at Ron. "You go first," he said. She shook her head and sat down next to him on the couch. "No, you- you go first."

He nodded and took a deep breath, seeming to struggle for words. Finally he put his head into his hands and sighed. "Hermione, I'm so sorry."

She tensed. "Sorry for what?" she asked, trying to keep her voice level.

"I- I can't marry you."

She blinked. "What?"

He looked up at her with sad eyes. "I just don't feel that spark anymore. We're too different and we have different goals for our lives and our careers are pulling us in two different directions which is causing us to grow apart. I love you, Hermione, but I can't marry someone I'm no longer _in_ love with. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

Hermione let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. It was true that work had been causing them to grow apart. Ron was the star Keeper for the Chudley Cannons quidditch team and Hermione was the head of the Spell Damage ward at St. Mungo's. They had been so successful in their careers that they barely had time for each other anymore. This wasn't the cause of their waning feelings however; it was only a factor. No, their relationship was coming to a close because the spark had just slowly died. No one was at fault. They just no longer loved each other as they once had. Hermione bit her lip before looking at Ron with soft eyes. "Oh, Ron. I- I've been feeling the same."

Ron looked at her curiously. "Really?"

She nodded. "Don't get me wrong, Ron, I adore you but I don't think we'd be right for each other. We're just too incompatible and in the end, I think we'd probably kill each other from that." Ron chuckled quietly. Hermione sighed. "I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me, too."

His eyes softened. "Of course, I forgive you! I can't blame you for feeling the exact same way I am."

She gave him a small smile. "And I forgive you too." She looked down to her left hand slid her engagement ring off and handed it to Ron. He shook his head. "No, keep it. I bought it for you."

She shook her head and took his hand in hers. "No; you bought it for the woman you're going to marry." She placed the ring in the palm of his hand and curled his fingers around it. "You're going to make someone very happy someday, Ron."

Ron gave her a small smile and squeezed her hand with his free one. "You will too, Mione."

She took a deep breath. "Um… are we- are we going to be okay? I mean, is our friendship going to be okay?"

Ron gave her a reassuring smile. "You know you'll always be my favorite girl, Mione. Of course we'll be okay."

Hermione pulled him into a hug. "Thank you," she whispered. They stayed in the embrace for a few more minutes. When she pulled out of the hug, she gave him a small smile. "Don't tell Ginny this, but you'll always be my favorite Weasley."

Ron chuckled and brushed a curl behind her ear. Both knew that the lack of sparks they felt when they touched meant that they had made the right decision. Hermione sighed. "Now what?"

The redhead thought about it for a moment. "I guess we let everyone know and cancel everything. Then we try and continue life as normal as possible."

She nodded. "I guess I'll head over to my parents place and let them know."

Ron nodded in agreement. "I'll head to the Burrow and tell everyone over there. Are you still going to come to dinner tonight?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, I don't think that'd be such a good idea since everyone will be trying to figure out what went wrong. I think I'll just take my parents out for dinner or something."

"Okay." He hesitated before speaking again. "I'll come by tomorrow to pick up my things if that's okay with you?"

She nodded. "Of course. Come by whenever it's convenient for you."

He nodded and stood up. Hermione followed suit. They hugged once more, both relieved that the break-up had gone much smoother than expected. Hermione pulled out of the hug and smiled at the redhead. "I should get going if I want to catch my parents before dinner."

He smiled and nodded in agreement. "Me too." He walked over the fireplace and grabbed a handful of floo powder. "Give your family my love, won't you?" Hermione asked.

He grinned. "Of course. See you around, Mione."

"See you around, Ron."

And then her ex-fiance disappeared behind a green curtain of flames.

* * *

To say Helen Granger was surprised to find her daughter on her doorstep at six in the evening on a Friday was an understatement. Hermione usually went out with her friends or Ron on the weekends and would only come by her parent's place once in a blue moon during the week. So to have her come by on a Friday was a bit unexpected. Still, she was always happy to see her daughter and welcomed her with open arms.

Hermione smiled and kissed her mother on the cheek. "How are you, dear?" Helen asked.

"Well, mum, I have some news that I'd like to talk to you and dad about. Is he home?"

Her mother nodded and looked at her suspiciously. "He's in the office."

Mother and daughter walked down the hall and to the office where the Granger patriarch was sitting at a desk typing furiously at his computer. "Tom?" Helen said.

"Yes, dear?" he replied, distractedly.

"Hermione's here."

Her father looked over to the door and grinned as he saw his daughter. His work forgotten, he walked over to his daughter and wrapped her in a big bear hug. Hermione chuckled as she enjoyed her father's embrace. "Hello, pretty," he replied, pulling back and looking at her. "What are you doing here?"

She took a deep breath. "Well, I have some news that I wanted to talk to you two about. Do you think we could sit down?"

Her father nodded and sat her down in a big plushy chair then he sat next to his wife and looked at his daughter expectantly.

"It's about me and Ron," she began.

"Oh my God, you're pregnant!" her mother gasped.

Hermione's eyes widened. "No no no!" she denied quickly. "No, I'm not pregnant. If I were, this would be much more complicated," she muttered to herself.

Helen seemed to visibly relax. "Thank goodness! I love you, honey, but I'm not ready to be a grandmother just yet."

Hermione gave her mother a small smile. "Believe me, I'm not ready to become a mother anytime soon either." Her parents chuckled and Hermione sobered. She leaned forward and clasped her hands together. "No, what I wanted to talk to you about was…" she hesitated. _Just spit it out,_ she told herself. "The wedding is off," she finally said.

Her parents stared at her confused. "What do you mean the wedding is off?" her father asked. "You seemed all set to go."

She bit her lip. "Remember when I came to you guys a couple months ago with some doubts about my feelings for Ron?" Her parents nodded. "Well, those feelings never went away. If anything, they just continued to get stronger and stronger until I couldn't take it anymore. I realized that I didn't love Ron anymore-at least not romantically-and I decided to break it off. Ron beat me to the punch today, though, and expressed that he's been feeling the exact same way I have. We talked it over and agreed that it was best to just call everything off and remain friends. Then he went to the Burrow to tell his family and I came here to tell you guys."

Her parents thought about what their daughter had said and remained silent for a few minutes. Then finally her mother spoke. "How do you feel about the whole thing, honey? In all honesty."

"In all honesty? I feel… lighter." And it was true. Knowing that she and Ron had parted ways so peacefully meant the world to her and she felt like she could breathe for the first time in months. She knew she should feel bad for being so relieved at her break-up but she also knew that it had been dragging her down for a while now to have the weight lifted off her shoulders was a godsend.

Her mother nodded. "Well, I must admit I am surprised to hear about the break-up but if everything is okay with you and Ron and as long as you're happy, I can live with the change. Everything _is_ okay with you and Ron, right?"

Hermione nodded. "Yeah, it was a very mature and calm conversation mostly because we were on the same page. In all honesty, it was probably the most peaceful break-up I've ever experienced. And we agreed to still be friends. We've been through far too much to let something like this destroy our friendship."

Her parents nodded in understanding, knowing the full story of what happened while they were in Australia and their daughter had been saving the world. "And you're happy?" her father asked.

She smiled at her dad. "Yes. I know it might sound bad but I'm so relieved. I feel like this huge weight has been released off my shoulders and I can properly breathe now."

Her parents smiled. "Well, I'm glad to hear that, honey." Helen said. "Can I make a suggestion, though?"

"Sure," Hermione said.

"Now that the engagement is off, I think you should take some time for yourself. You've been with Ron since the end of the war so you don't really know what it's like to _really_ be on your own. Take some 'you' time: go on a vacation by yourself and learn what it means to be your own person. Discover new things about yourself and allow yourself to enjoy life. I promise it will make a world of difference when you're ready to start dating again."

Hermione thought that over. Although she wasn't crazy about missing work, she liked the idea of taking some time for herself and to learn new things about herself that she might not have discovered had she stayed with Ron. She smiled and nodded. "I'll think about it, mum, I promise. But right now, I'd like to spend some time with you guys. Did you have anything planned tonight?"

Her parents shook their heads. She perked up at that. "How about we get dinner? My treat."

Tom looked to his wife and smiled before looking back to his daughter. "I think that sounds lovely."

"Great! How do you feel about Greek?"

* * *

 _ **P.S. So, for those of you who read**_ **When the Day Met the Night, _you guys know that I love Ron so this will not be a Ron bashing fic. As for their break-up, I've read a bunch of fanfics where Ron cheated on Hermione or he left her or some sort of drama and while I've found some of those to be wonderful reads, personally, I feel like Ron and Hermione would have a very peaceful break-up if they grew apart. I've seen (and experienced) many a peaceful break-up and I just felt like this is something that would happen between them. I hope you guys feel the same!_**

 ** _Stay Golden!_**


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Happy Friday! I'm so happy to see how much love this story is getting after only one chapter. I hope I can fulfill your expectations. One good note, I've figured out how I want the story to end which is huge considering I tend to start these without an ending planned so that's one less thing I have to worry about now. Anyway, thanks for all the love and understanding that this will take some time! You guys are the best!**_

 _ **Tallyho!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 2:**

The Weasleys hadn't been nearly as understanding about Ron and Hermione's break-up as the Grangers had been. Mrs. Weasley was heartbroken and confused as to why they had broken up while the rest of the Weasley children had been extremely baffled as Ron and Hermione seemed happily in love whenever they were around the family. Mr. Weasley, however, was very understanding and reassured his youngest son that everyone would come around to understanding eventually.

Harry and Ginny were the first to come around. They had taken Hermione to lunch that Monday to hear the story from their best friend and by the end of the meal, they understood that no one was at fault but that sometimes feelings fade and there's nothing you can do. Hermione was grateful that her two other best friends were so accepting of the split and didn't ask any questions. Ron had moved out the day after the split and Hermione had immediately hated how empty the flat felt so, with a little help from Ginny and Luna, she completely redecorated the flat to her tastes: beige walls in the living room and light gray in the bedrooms and bathrooms with splashes of color here and there with decorative throw pillows and paintings and pictures decorating the walls. Despite the new look to the flat, it still felt empty. When Hermione had expressed her frustrations to her mother, she suggested that she get a pet to keep her company.

Shortly before Ron and Hermione had gotten engaged, Crookshanks had developed some rare disease that was still being studied. Hermione took him to every vet available, muggle and wizard, but sadly there was nothing they could do to help him except put him out of his misery. Hermione reluctantly agreed and stayed with Crookshanks at all times until his final moments. She had been devastated and had cried for days. Now, more than a year later, she no longer felt sadness when thinking about her orange feline companion. Instead, she looked back on her memories with him with fondness. As she thought about her mother's suggestion, she decided that getting another pet wouldn't be a bad idea. If anything, it might be just what she needed.

Taking Ginny with her, Hermione went to the animal humane center in downtown muggle London, not looking for anything in particular but just going to see if any animal caught her eye. The two girls had been in the center for ten minutes when Hermione's eyes stumbled on a small white Australian Shepherd puppy with black and brown speckles all over him and bright blue eyes. With one look, Hermione was smitten. She had asked the center worker if she could spend a few minutes with the puppy to see if he was really the one. The second the puppy caught sight of her, he ran over to her with an excited look in his eyes. Ginny didn't need to hear a vocal confirmation from her best friend to know that this was the puppy for her. Hermione signed the papers while the puppy was taken into the back to be microchipped. As she paid the adoption fee, the puppy was brought back out to her and Hermione took him home. She would name him Benji.

She and Benji had grown close very quickly. He immediately filled the emptiness that Hermione had been feeling in the flat with his antics of running around the flat and chasing his toys. Within the first two months, he had grown at least twice his size and the vet said he wasn't finished growing yet. Hermione didn't mind though, she adored her puppy and would still allow him on her bed no matter what size he was. The couch was another story...

She still hadn't gone to the Burrow yet as she wasn't ready to face the many pairs of scrutinizing eyes so, instead, she focused on work and Benji, squeezing in some research on vacation spots at the request of her mother. She had been developing a new potion to help with memory loss involving _Oblivion_ spells gone bad and repairing the memories of more extreme cases from other spells like Neville Longbottom's parents. The test subjects had seen tremendous success and Hermione was ecstatic as she signed the document allowing it to be used in small doses on minor cases before being picked up and taken on more major cases. She had gone to Diagon Alley to buy herself a new book as a treat when she had run into Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh! Hello, Mrs. Weasley," she said, immediately on edge around the Weasley matriarch.

"Hello dear!" Mrs. Weasley replied cheerfully. She pulled the surprised brunette into a hug before pulling out and examining her. "How are you? We hardly see you anymore. Ginny said that you were busy with work and with your new dog."

Hermione nodded, still surprised in how happy Mrs. Weasley was to see her. "I know, I've been really busy working on a new potion to help with memory loss. I just signed the document today that will let it be used on minor cases before it's allowed to be used on any stronger memory damage."

Molly's eyes lit up. "Well that's wonderful! Congratulations! Listen, why don't you come over tonight and I'll cook you a celebratory dinner?"

"Oh that's very thoughtful of you, Mrs. Weasley, but that's really not necessary-"

"Nonsense, I insist!"

Hermione knew better to argue with the woman who was like a second mother so she conceded. "Alright, that sounds lovely. Thank you."

"Of course, dear, of course! Come by around seven. The boys should be home by then."

Hermione nodded and smiled. "Seven it is, then."

"Er, Hermione," Mrs. Weasley began. "I know that you and Ron aren't together anymore but I just wanted to let you know that you are always welcome to the Burrow. It's been a bit lonely without you there, you know."

Hermione felt guilty. She had purposefully avoiding the Weasleys because she was nervous about how they would act around her now that she and Ron were no longer together. It appeared, however, that the Weasley clan had recovered quickly and simply wished to see her again. She couldn't deny her second family that. "I'm sorry Mrs. Weasley. I know it's been awhile since I've seen you guys and I've just been so busy with work that I haven't really had time for anything outside of that and taking care of the dog."

Mrs. Weasley gave her a sympathetic smile and brushed a curl behind her ear. "You always did put your heart and soul into your work, which is a very admirable trait. Hopefully now that your research has slowed down, you might be able to visit us more often."

Hermione nodded. "I'd like that."

Mrs. Weasley grinned. "Great. Well, I must get going if I'm going to make dinner. I'll see you tonight, dear."

"See you then," Hermione replied, giving the woman a quick hug before waving goodbye and returning to her book shopping.

* * *

Much to Hermione's relief, the dinner went very smoothly. Things were slightly awkward between her and Ron but they managed to stay civil and to keep the tension down for the sake of not wanting to ruin the dinner. After dinner, George, Ron, Ginny, and Harry all went outside for a small round of Quidditch leaving the rest of the Weasleys and Hermione inside to chat. At one point, Hermione walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water when she ran into Fleur.

"Oh, Fleur! I'm so glad I caught you!" she said, smiling at the blonde. "I wanted to ask you something."

Fleur smiled back. "Ask away," she said.

"What do you know about Colmar?"

"The city?" Fleur asked, intrigued. Hermione nodded. The blonde sat down at the table, Hermione sitting down next to her. "Well, I personally haven't been in years but from what I remember it was a beautiful little town. There was a local farmer's market in town every Saturday and the people there were lovely. It's a very charming town. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I've been thinking, now that the potion is on it's trial and the research is over, I might go on a vacation for a bit to recuperate from the lack of sleep I've had while working. I had started looking at some vacation options a little while ago and Colmar came up and looked perfect. I was just curious if you had heard anything or had any suggestions."

Fleur nodded. "Colmar is probably the perfect place to do that. For the most part, it's fairly quiet and has this atmosphere about it that allows you to relax. I highly recommend it."

That was the confirmation Hermione needed. "Thank you, Fleur. That's just what I needed to hear."

Fleur smiled. "I'm glad I could help."

The rest of the night passed by peacefully with only minor tension in the room between Ron and Hermione but, thanks to George and Ginny, it never developed into anything awkward and by the end of the night, Hermione was more than happy that she had gone to visit the Weasleys. Knowing she couldn't leave Benji alone for much longer, she took her leave and returned to her flat to find her puppy waiting excitedly for her in the kitchen, behind the baby gate she had set up to keep him out of the rest of the flat.

As Hermione curled up on her bed that night with a cup of tea, Benji laying at her feet, she began to read up more on Colmar, France and where the best places to stay were and calculating how much time she could take off. She determined that she would be able to take off a temporary leave of absence for a maximum of six months before having to return to work. Initially, she wasn't crazy about taking even a week off work but now that she was planning a vacation, she liked the idea of taking some time off for herself. She was beginning to realize just how good it might be to learn about herself in a new place and see what new things she could learn. She decided she would ask her boss for a month off for the time being and, if she was enjoying her trip, would then possibly ask for more time off. But for now, a month seemed perfect.

* * *

The next week, she would approach the Dean of Medicine about her plan. Healer Austen looked up as Hermione entered his office. "Ah, Healer Granger, how can I help you?" he asked, smiling warmly.

Hermione returned the gesture and sat down, lacing her fingers together. "I wanted to speak with you about something."

"Sure, what is it?" he asked.

Hermione took a deep breath before speaking. "I'd like to take a temporary leave of absence."

Healer Austen furrowed his brows. "Okay, may I ask why?"

Hermione pursed her lips before answering. She and her boss had become good friends over the past six years that she had been working at St. Mungo's so she felt that the least she could do is be honest with him. "As you know, Ron and I broke up and called off the wedding. And since then, I've been thinking that now would be a good time to reevaluate some choices that I've made and learn what it's like to truly be on my own and hopefully discover new things about myself. The only way I'd be able to do that, however, is if I took some time off work and just focused on myself for a little bit. Does that make sense?"

Her boss thought about what she had said for a moment before nodding. "I completely understand. I did the same thing a few years back myself and I can honestly say it was one of the best decisions I had ever made." Hermione smiled and sighed in relief. "How much time were you thinking of taking off?" Austen asked.

"Well, I did some math and I figured out that the maximum time I could take off would be about six months." Healer Austen nodded in agreement to that. "However," she continued, "I love my job and I love the work that I do here and I feel that taking that much time off would only cause more harm than good. So, I was thinking of just a month."

Her boss nodded. "A month would fine. However, if you decide that you would like to take more time off, I need at least a week's notice so we know to keep your department updated."

Hermione nodded in agreement. "If I decide to do so, you'll be the first to know."

"Great," he said, pulling out a calendar. "When were you thinking of taking your leave?"

"I was thinking about four months from now. Maybe the beginning of September."

Healer Austen skimmed through his calendar before nodding. "September should be perfect."

Hermione nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Rory," she said, using her boss' first name.

He smiled in return. "Of course, Hermione. I may be tough but you're one of my best employees and I do understand that everyone needs a break now and then. I'd be insane not to let you enjoy yourself from time to time." She thanked him again and began to stand up before he stopped her. "Oh, Hermione," he said. She turned to look at him. "How are the trials going for your potion?"

Hermione grinned triumphantly. "So far, so good. The trial patients are showing remarkable results in just a little amount of time. If they continue to succeed, my goal is to start testing on more severe cases by next month and see what effect they have on them. That's part of the reason why I chose September because, by then, we'll have seen all the effects of the potion and be able to start using it as a method of recovery for those with more severe memory loss."

Healer Austen nodded. "That's great that you're already seeing so much success with it. Please keep me posted on the trials and how it goes with the stronger cases. Hopefully, we'll be able to get the potion out into the open before you leave."

Hermione nodded. "Fingers crossed."

* * *

 _ **P.S. Recap: Colmar is a city in France, in case I didn't make that clear.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: For the sake of the story, certain things regarding Colmar (such as the farmer's market) have been made up from my own imagination. That being said, I have done my research of the city and I'm trying to include as many accurate facts as possible without stretching it too much. Either way, it sounds like a beautiful place to be and is now on my bucket list of places to go. Go Google it! It's gorgeous!**_

 ** _Stay Golden!_**


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Short chapter alert! Sorry. I've been making some good headway on this story though and I have the skeleton of it pretty much laid out in my head which is good so hopefully I'll have the rest of it written soon along with the Next Gen story. I leave town tomorrow so I may not get to update again this week considering my grandparents don't have wifi but if I find a way to update, I will. Thanks for all the love guys. Have a good week!**_

 _ **Tallyho!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 3:**

The trials were going well but there hadn't been enough success yet to release the potion to the public or try it on extreme cases. Hermione was starting to regret taking time off work while her team stayed and worked their butts off trying to strengthen the potion but her boss insisted that she go. Some time off might be just what she needed to get a clearer idea of how to perfect the potion. So with a distracted mind, she packed a suitcase and grabbed Benji and went to Colmar, France.

Hermione had read that Colmar was a city that was a mix of wizard and muggle life and that it was a great place to vacation if you wanted to get away but also wanted to stay close to what you knew and were comfortable with, which sounded exactly like what she needed. She had also read that Colmar was sometimes called Little Venice and as soon as she arrived in the city, she understood why. There was a small canal in the middle of the city with small gondolas traveling up and down the water way, similar to Venice. The city was surrounded with colorful buildings, brick streets, street vendors everywhere you looked, and the smell of authentic French food and wine filled the air. With one look around, Hermione could feel herself come back to life and knew that a vacation really was what she needed.

She rented a cozy two-story condo five minutes from the city center, from a sweet elderly witch named Matilda, who owned many of the wizard housing in the city. The exterior of the condo was a bright yellow color while the interior was much more subdued. The walls were painted a dark gray-blue color with beige couches in the living room and a small coffee table sitting in between the two couches. There was a large fireplace with a small bag of floo powder next to it as well, allowing Hermione to make a call if she needed. The dining room and the kitchen were combined into a small space but for one person and a dog, it was perfect. There was even a doggy door that led to a small backyard for Benji to use for his own purposes. There was a small powder room downstairs as well as a coat closet. Upstairs, were two bedrooms: a small guest room and a medium sized master with a large king sized four poster bed, a dressing table, a small closet, a dresser, an en suite, and two large french doors that led to a private balcony that faced the street. The balcony even had a couple of chairs and a small coffee table where she would be able to read the paper and drink her coffee in the morning.

As she looked at her beautiful view (which consisted of a view of the city and the beautiful mountain range), she could tell that this trip would have it's benefits for her.

Little did she know just what those benefits would be.

* * *

A few days later, Hermione was walking with Benji through the farmer's market in the center of the city, smiling and conversing with the locals in their native language. After the war, Hermione needed something to keep her mind off of everything that she had seen, so she distracted herself by learning a new language: French. It quickly became her sanctuary and by the time she had become fluent in the language, the nightmares had subsided and she had been able to sleep through the night again.

Now, she was extremely grateful for that time she studied French because it came in very handy when speaking to the locals about the history of the city and of the buildings. The locals also seemed to love Benji who, in turn, loved all the attention he was getting. _Spoiled dog_ , Hermione thought to herself as she smiled at her fluffy companion. Waving goodbye to the clerk she had been talking to, Hermione continued to walk down the street, lost in thought, when she accidentally collided with another person, dropping the book she had been holding.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she ushered out. "I wasn't watching where I was going and-" she stopped mid-sentence as she looked at the person she had bumped into. She'd know those grey eyes anywhere. "Malfoy?"


	4. Chapter 4

**_A/N: Yay, wifi! I forgot how beautiful the East Coast is in the summer. For those of you who live here year round, I envy you 'cause this place is gorgeous! Anyway, I hope you guys are doing well. Please keep the reviews coming, guys. They tend to make an author's day when we get reviews from you because, after all, you are part of the reason that_ _we write these stories in the first place so if you could take a few minutes to just share your thoughts, it would mean a lot. Even a 'nice chapter' comment would suffice. Thanks guys._**

 ** _Tallyho!_**

* * *

Chapter 4:

"Granger?" Draco asked, looking just as confused as she was.

"Uh- I- you- what are you doing here?" Hermione asked, finally finding the words to form a coherent sentence.

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied.

She swallowed. "I asked you first," she said, her confidence starting to come back now that the shock was starting to wear off.

He straightened his posture and stared at her curiously. Finally, he spoke. "Personal reasons. Your turn."

Huh. Hermione thought. Fine. He won't give me a real answer I won't give him one. "Personal reasons," she replied.

He pursed his lips and nodded, seeming to be satisfied with her answer. He bent down to pick up her book only to be greeted by a pointy wet nose. He was taken aback for a moment before a small smile crept on his lips as he looked at the dog. "I never pegged you for a dog person, Granger," he said, as he scratched Benji's head before standing up and handing Hermione her book.

"Uh, yeah, it was kind of a spur of the moment thing," she explained, taking the book from his grasp. "Thanks," she muttered.

Draco nodded. "Well, I guess I'll see you around, Granger." he said, petting Benji's head once more before walking away.

"I guess so," she said, still very confused. She quickly finished the rest of her shopping then returned back to her flat to contemplate what had just happened.

The Malfoys had defected at the last minute during the war and have since worked hard to clean up their reputation. Narcissa had started a charity that helped with the cleanup process of the aftermath of the war while Lucius had donated millions into the repair of Hogwarts. Their efforts worked and the Malfoys were back at the height of society with a much better reputation than before. They had even claimed to renounce their pureblood beliefs; Narcissa had made an effort to get to know some muggle-borns during the cleanup, Hermione included. At first, Hermione believed it to be a publicity stunt but as she talked more and more with the Malfoy matriarch, she, begrudgingly, admitted that Narcissa wasn't nearly as terrible as her husband or son. If anything, she was quite amicable. As for Lucius, he just claimed that his word was enough proof and no one bothered to argue, either because they didn't care or they were still scared of him. No one was sure which option it really was.

Draco, however, seemed to disappear off the face of the earth: media wise anyway. He returned to Hogwarts to make up his final year, keeping his head down the entire time but making a point to be civil to everyone, Hermione included, while he was there. The two had actually managed to make peace with one another during their last year and called an alliance. He apologized for all he had done, she forgave him, and they continued their last year at school peacefully. They had formed a quiet sort of friendship, never talking about anything too serious but had managed to grow fond of one another.

After graduation, however, he had quietly faded into the background and they stopped talking. The only times Hermione had seen his name mentioned in the paper was when he had taken over his father's business and when he had married Astoria Greengrass. Which was another thing: if Draco was here, did that mean Astoria was too? Not that Hermione had a problem with her but she wasn't sure she'd be able to find the peace she wanted knowing there were two Malfoys wandering around the town. If that was the case, then this trip just got a whole lot more complicated. She kept her fingers crossed that seeing Malfoy this one time was just pure coincidence and that the rest of her trip would remain complication free.

* * *

It seemed Hermione's luck was not with her on this trip.

She consistently ran into Draco everywhere from museums to restaurants to the farmer's market where they collided that first day. And a majority of the time Benji was with her and he seemed to love the former Slytherin, much to Hermione's surprise and slight annoyance. Benji was a very friendly dog and loved everyone but she couldn't help but huff in frustration as he seemed to adore Draco. To her intrigue, the blonde seemed to really like Benji in return. Whenever Benji was with her, a small smile crept on Draco's lips and his eyes seemed to hold a sad type of happiness compared to the solemn look they held when she ran into him and Benji wasn't with her, something Hermione was surprised to find she even noticed.

What was even more confusing to Hermione, was that every time she and Draco ran into each other, he was alone. Astoria was nowhere to be found. Hermione had concluded that perhaps Draco had come to Colmar alone… she just couldn't figure out why.

One day, she was sitting out on the patio of a small cafe, drinking coffee and reading a book with Benji tied to the table lying at her feet, when a figure appeared in the chair across from her. She looked up from her book to find that Draco had sat down across from her with a small smirk resting on his lips. "Mind if I join you?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow. "Would you leave if I said no?"

He chuckled. "Probably not."

She shrugged and went back to her book. "Suit yourself. Can't say I'd be much entertainment though."

"Who said I was here for you?" he replied scratching Benji's ears who had rested his head in the blonde's lap. Hermione rolled her eyes as her dog embraced the attention he was getting.

"Jealous, Granger?' Draco taunted, smirking.

She looked at him incredulously and chuckled. "No. I'm just trying to figure out what it is about you that he likes so much."

"Perhaps it's my charming personality," he suggested.

Hermione did her best not to snort. "Right; I'm sure that's what it is," she said before going back to her book but she didn't read it. Instead, she kept sneaking looks to Draco and noticed how his eyes held sadness again. He was focused on Benji and continued to scratch his head but his mind seemed to be elsewhere. Hermione took this moment to really look at him: he looked skinnier and his hair wasn't it's usual slicked back style; it fell loose just above his eyes. When he wasn't smirking, he had a small frown that seemed to be etched into his face and his eyes seemed to be swirling with emotions but sadness and loneliness most of all.

She pondered why that was but was pulled out of her thoughts when he spoke to her again. "So how does your cat feel about your dog?" Draco asked. "I can't imagine they get along very well."

Hermione felt her heart tighten and she put her book down. She had moved on from Crookshanks' death but it still hurt knowing that her orange companion was gone. She bit her lip before answering him. "Crookshanks passed away last year," she said quietly.

Draco's eyes softened. "Oh. I- I'm sorry to hear that."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

He scoffed. "Come on, Granger. I may be a self-righteous prick but I still have a heart."

"Could've fooled me," she muttered quietly. When she saw the hurt flash in his eyes, however, she knew he heard her. She groaned internally. She didn't know why but seeing him get hurt over something she said made her feel bad; despite all the things he said to her in the past that hurt her, she didn't want to inflict that same pain on him because then, she would be no better than him. Plus, she couldn't just ignore their alliance they had created their last year in school. She sighed. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for; it's just still a bit of a rough topic for me."

He nodded in understanding. He muttered something that she swore sounded like "I probably deserved it anyway." She furrowed her brows but shook her head. She was probably just imagining that he had said that. She pursed her lips as she looked at the blonde across from her. He seemed different from the last time she saw him but at the same time he seemed to not have changed at all. It was intriguing. It still didn't explain why he seemed to be here alone though...

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" Hermione asked, before she could stop herself.

Draco raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean here in Colmar; by yourself no less. Every time I've seen you you've been alone. Shouldn't your wife be here with you?"

He visibly tensed at the mention of Astoria, something Hermione did not miss. "I could ask you the same thing, Granger. Where's your precious Weasley?"

She bit the inside of her cheek. He completely avoided the question and instead retorted with a remark about where Ron was. Clearly, he was hiding something… but what? "Ron's busy with work," she replied. "I'm here for some personal time and to take Benji on a vacation. Your turn." Technically, she didn't lie: Ron was busy with work as the Cannons were at the top of their game this season and this vacation was for her to spend some time by herself and with Benji but Ron and her were no longer together and there was no way in hell she was going to tell him that. Nonetheless, Draco seemed unconvinced. Granted, she was still suspicious of his reasons as well so she didn't blame him.

He swallowed before answering. "Astoria's got some business things she's taking care of. Like you, I'm here for some personal time."

She narrowed her eyes. No; she did not believe a word he said for one second. He raised an eyebrow as if he was challenging her to question him but she refused to take his bait. He wasn't the only one hiding something after all…

"You still didn't answer my question," she said, trying to ease the awkward tension that had grown between them.

His brows furrowed. "What question?"

"What are you doing in Colmar?"

He rolled his eyes. "I told you already, Granger-"

"No, I mean, of all the places you could go, you chose Colmar. Why?"

He paused as he realized what she was asking and his mouth formed into an O. "My parents have a summer home here," he replied. Of course they do, Hermione thought. "And I'm usually not bothered by anyone here. Except you."

"Need I remind you, Malfoy, you came and sat down here by yourself. I didn't ask you-"

"I know, I know, but that's not what I meant. What I meant is that I've been here for months and I haven't run into anyone I know until now, and of all people, it's you. Why is that? Why come to Colmar when you could have chosen anywhere else in the world?"

Hermione thought about it as the waiter came and topped off her coffee and gave Draco a fresh cup. When he walked away, she met Draco's stare. It wasn't the scrutinizing and hateful stare she grew used to in their school days; instead, it was a curious stare, as if he were studying her. She could feel herself getting lost in his eyes but was jolted back to reality by Benji's wet nose touching her exposed leg. She jumped at the action and patted Benji's head as he adjusted himself at her feet again. She pursed her lips before responding. "I was looking for vacation spots and stumbled upon Colmar. After doing some research, it seemed like the perfect place."

Draco nodded and leaned forward. "So what do you think so far? Of the city, I mean."

She looked out and smiled at the gondolas passing by in the canal. "I think it's beautiful. I haven't had a lot of time to really explore the city though as I've only been here a week."

Draco smirked. "How long are you here for?"

"A month," she replied.

"Well that doesn't leave us much time, does it?"

She furrowed her brows in confusion. "Leave us time for what?"

"Exploring the city. Consider me your official tour guide of Colmar."

Hermione resisted the urge to drop her jaw. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," he replied. "Like I said, my parents own a summer home here so I've been here long enough to know the city relatively well. I can give you the grand tour and the history… if you'd like."

Hermione studied him for a moment. "Why? I mean, why would you want to give me a tour of the city?"

He pursed his lips as he thought about his answer. He seemed hesitant about answering at first but then shrugged as if to say screw it. "I'm making up for lost time with an old friend."

Hermione bit her lip as she contemplated his answer. Normally, she would have turned him down and told him to piss off but he had piqued her interest. He had called her an old friend which made her want to smile and to trust him. She also wanted to know why he held so much sadness in his eyes. And, in all honesty, she missed the sort-of friend she had made in her last year of school. She shrugged. "Alright. Why not?"


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: So I'm pretty sure that I posted a chapter already this week but I don't remember so I'm gonna post another one! Yay! Just an FYI: this story is going to get updated a little more frequently than Next Gen for the time being because I'm just kind of on a roll with this one. Next Gen hasn't stopped, this one is just getting a little more attention for the time being. Also, I apologize if I haven't responded to your reviews. I tend to have a bad habit of reading them then putting my phone down and forgetting about them. Please don't take it personally, I'm just crap at remembering to go into the website and respond. I'm going to try and get better at that. Thanks for all the love on this and Next Gen, you guys! Your reviews, follows, and favorites make my day!**_

 _ **Tallyho!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 5:**

Draco had turned out to be an exceptional tour guide. He knew all the history of the city and the best spots to see the best view of the city. He even took Benji off her hands a couple times, allowing her to move more freely. They spent the entire day together; first they only talked about the city and it's history but as the day continued, they began to open up more about their personal lives and catch up on all they had missed with one another. By the time dinner came around, it was as if no time had passed between the two. They were smiling and laughing like old friends, which is what they felt like. Neither had shared the real reason why they were in Colmar, though.

They ate dinner together at the same cafe they had met at that morning. Afterwards, Draco walked Hermione back to her apartment. She took Benji off his leash and let him inside before turning back around to Draco with a small smile on her face. He returned the gesture. She hesitated before speaking. "Thanks for today, Draco," returning to using his first name. "I had fun. You're an excellent tour guide."

He smirked. "Well I would hope so."

She rolled her eyes. "W-would you like to come in? For coffee or something?" she asked hesitantly.

He seemed reluctant at first but quickly made up his mind. "Coffee sounds great."

Hermione smiled and opened the door to her apartment to let him in but he gestured for her to go first, which she did. He closed the door behind him and followed her into the kitchen. He smiled at the small apartment. It felt very cozy and welcoming; granted, Hermione's warm smile and Benji's wagging tail were mostly the cause of that. He sat at the breakfast bar as she puttered around the kitchen humming happily to herself. He took that opportunity to really look at her since he hadn't had the proper chance to until now.

Her bushy brown hair had relaxed into soft waves that fell just below her shoulders, she had developed some curves and she now had features that made her look like a beautiful young woman instead of a cute little girl. She had a small amount of makeup on her face just to enhance her features. Draco liked that she didn't put a lot of makeup on; she was beautiful the way she was and the small amount she was wearing was just enough to bring out her eyes and lips instead of wearing it like a mask. And yes, he admitted that she was beautiful. She had always been cute during their school years but as he looked at her now, he saw that she had grown into an incredible young woman who was beautiful inside and out.

Sensing his stare, Hermione looked up at him and smiled as she finished preparing the coffee. "You still take it black?" she asked.

Draco nodded and smiled. "I didn't think you'd remember that."

"Are you kidding?" she asked as she placed the mug in front of him. "Those late night kitchen chats were my favorite."

 _During their last year in school, Hermione would sneak down to the kitchens when she needed time to herself and just sit with a cup of tea and a good book or she'd talk to the house elves. One night, she showed up to find Draco sitting at one of the tables with his head in his hands. Hermione debated about leaving but when she heard him sigh, she gathered up her courage and walked over to him. "Malfoy?" she asked quietly._

 _He lifted his head up to look at her and she saw that he looked very tired. And a little sad. "Granger?" he said._

 _"Mind if I join you?" she asked. He shook his head and she sat down. When one of the house elves came by and asked her what she wanted, she asked for a cup of decaf tea then looked back to Draco. "What are you doing down here?" she asked._

 _"I can't sleep." he replied, taking a sip of his drink. "You?"_

 _"I like to come down here for some peace and quiet after a long day."_

 _He nodded in understanding. They sat in a (surprisingly) comfortable silence for a while before they started talking about classes. The conversation started on potions, then to spells, then books. It was the first pleasant and full conversation they had had since he apologized and both liked it. They would fall into a pattern after that, meeting in the kitchens twice a week: once during the week and once during the weekend. Both came to looking forward to those meetings and, although they never discussed particularly heavy topics, they had grown to trust each other and to rely on one another as friends._

Draco didn't realize how much he missed those evenings until now.

Hermione put some sugar into her coffee before picking it up and smiling at him. "Shall we sit in the living room? It's much more comfortable."

Draco gave her a small smile and nodded, following her once again. They sat down on the couch, far enough away that they weren't touching but close enough that it felt comfortable. Benji curled up in his bed next to the fireplace and closed his eyes. Hermione smiled at her furry companion before looking back to the blonde. He was looking out the window behind them, lost in thought. "Malfoy," Hermione said quietly. He didn't respond. She hesitated before putting her hand on top of his. "Draco," she said.

He looked down at her hand on his before looking to her. "Sorry," he muttered. He tried to pull his hand away but Hermione's grip tightened. "Where were you just now?" she asked.

He shook his head and ran his free hand through his hair. "Nowhere."

She pursed her lips as she didn't believe him. "Draco," she said again. He looked at her this time. She swallowed before speaking. "I know it's been awhile since we've seen each other and talked but you know you can still talk to me. About anything. Whatever it is that's bothering you, you can talk to me. I'm not saying you have to now; I just wanted to let you know that when you're ready, I'll listen."

He looked back outside and sighed before looking back to her, grey eyes meeting brown. With one look, Draco wanted to confess everything. She wasn't looking at him with pity or with sympathy; she was looking at him with a small smile and her eyes were asking him to trust her. She seemed to understand that he was upset about something but she didn't push him and he was grateful for that. Her hand resting on his was comforting to him and as he looked into her eyes, he felt his wall breaking. He _did_ want to talk about what had happened and she seemed to be the only person who, would not only willingly listen, but would also not judge him. He sighed and turned his hand around so that their palms were facing and wrapped his fingers around her hand before speaking.

"Astoria and I got divorced," he admitted, looking down at the couch.

Hermione's eyes softened and she squeezed his hand. "Oh, Draco." He tensed because he thought she was about to apologize. That was what he hated about telling people about his divorce. Immediately people looked at him with sympathy and apologized. He didn't want them to apologize. He just wanted to be left alone and not talk about it. He visibly relaxed though when she didn't apologize. "Are you okay?" she asked instead.

He shrugged and looked back at her. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm over it."

She bit her lip before she continued. "If I may ask, what happened?"

He huffed. "Don't tell me if you don't want to," she said quickly. "I know it may not be an easy subject-"

He shook his head. "It's not but…" he trailed off for a moment. "I need to talk about it with someone." Hermione nodded in encouragement for him to continue. He took a deep breath, then spoke. "Things hadn't been good between us for a while. We'd been fighting for months, sleeping in separate rooms, and hardly speaking to each other. I wasn't sure what happened but I wanted to patch things up with her. I was still in love with her (or so I thought) so I started going out of my way to fix our relationship. I made a point to pay more attention to her, I sent fresh flowers to her room every morning, I complimented her _all the time_ , I even took her out a couple of times. Nothing seemed to work. Then, I noticed that her demeanor had started to change. Instead of being angry at me all the time, she became indifferent. She hardly spoke to me _at all_. She wouldn't even start arguments with me anymore. I knew something was wrong so one day, when she left the house, I followed her.

"I found out that she had been cheating on me for months: about as long as our problems had started. She seemed madly in love with the man she was with and she doted on him the way she should have with me. But instead, I was watching from afar, using a listening charm to eavesdrop on their conversation. I heard her tell the man that she was going to leave me at the end of the month and then she would be all his. I didn't need to hear anymore after that. I apparated home, collected all of her stuff, put it in a box, and left it by the front door for her to pick up when she got back. I then changed all the wards and blocked her from gaining access from any point in the house. I called my parents afterwards and told them what I had heard and seen. My father called our lawyer immediately and had him write up a divorce file. I didn't want to stick around for the drama, however, so I packed a bag, bid my parents adieu, and came here. I've been dealing with the divorce stuff here, far away from Astoria and from the scrutiny of the media and her family. The only person I'm still in contact with from her family is Daphne. She had no idea of what was going on with Astoria and I believe her. Other than her, I want nothing to do with the Greengrasses."

"When was the divorce finalized?" Hermione asked.

"Yesterday," he replied. "She got a hefty sum of money from it but I don't care. I can make it back. The good news is that I never have to see her face again. Sadly, it will probably be in the paper soon which means I have to deal with the media but I can handle them." _I hope,_ he thought.

Hermione sat in silence as she contemplated everything he told her. They were still holding hands. After a few minutes, Hermione's eyes narrowed as she thought about something. "When exactly did this all start?" she asked.

"About a year ago," he replied. "The fighting, I mean. I caught her cheating only a few months ago."

"Define a few months."

"About six months ago. Why?"

"This morning you said you'd been here for months. How long have you been here?"

He looked down at their entwined hands and sighed. "Six months."

"What?" Hermione asked, her heart swelling.

"What do you mean 'what?'" he asked.

"You've been here six months alone while going through a divorce? How did- I mean-"

"I wasn't always alone," he replied helping her along. "My parents came to visit occasionally as did Daphne and Theo and Luna and Blaise. They couldn't visit for very long though since Daphne just had a baby and Blaise and Luna are planning their wedding." Three years ago, Blaise and Luna ran into each other at the Ministry (literally) and stumbled through a conversation with each other before Luna asked Blaise out for coffee. They had been together ever since. Everyone had been a bit surprised at the union but as long as Luna and Blaise were happy, then their respective friends were happy.

Hermione nodded in understanding. "It must be incredibly lonely though…" she trailed off.

He shrugged. "At times. But it was good for me, I think. I've learned about myself while I've been here and I've been able to move past a lot of stuff that's been dragging me down. A lot of it regarding Astoria. And I know it sounds bad but I am so relieved now that the divorce is finalized. I feel like I can finally breathe for the first time in a year."

Hermione sighed as she realized that she knew that feeling far too well since she broke off her engagement with Ron. She was starting to realize that they maybe had more in common than they had initially thought. He sighed and ran his free hand through his hair then looked at her. "Your turn."

"My turn what?" she asked.

"I told you why I was here. Now you tell me why you're here. Or, more importantly, why you're here without Weasley."

Hermione huffed and brushed her hair behind her ear before speaking. "Ron and I broke up. The wedding's off." She felt she owed him the truth since he had confided in her about Astoria. Plus, he always had a differing opinion on most things from her which always made for interesting conversation. Maybe he'd have an interesting opinion on this topic…

"Why?" he asked.

She furrowed her brows. "What do you mean 'why?'"

He shrugged. "I just never thought you two would split. You were always so obsessed with him in school and he-"

She removed her hand from his to slap him lightly on the chest. "I was _not_ obsessed!"

He snorted. "Right, and I wasn't a Slytherin."

She rolled her eyes causing him to chuckle. " _Anyway_ ," she continued, "before you ask, no he didn't cheat on me or do something to piss me off. We just grew apart and decided it was best if we broke it off." She winced as she realized what she said. "Oops. Sorry; that just slipped out."

Draco chuckled and shook his head. "It's not as sensitive a topic as you'd think. Sure it hurts but, at this point, I'm just more frustrated than anything that I let it go on as long as it did and that I didn't see the signs earlier."

"You can't blame yourself," she defended. "You were actually making an effort. She's the one to blame because she threw everything you had away and ran into the arms of another man."

"That's the thing," he said sighing. "We didn't have all that much to begin with. It was an arranged marriage, as most pureblood marriages are, but we pushed the wedding back a year to really get to know each other. In the process, I fell in love with her and I thought vice versa. Now I know she was just after the money."

Hermione sighed and patted his hand. "Well, I'm sorry that's what happened but I'm glad that you're okay. And if you ask me, it's her loss." Draco raised an eyebrow and she chuckled. "I'm serious. We may not have always gotten along, Draco, but I know there's a soft side to you, no matter how hard you try to hide it."

He chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Well since we're on the topic, I think you dodged a bullet with Weasley." She rolled her eyes as if to say _Here we go_. "Hear me out," he said. She pursed her lips but nodded for him to continue. "Weasley's noble, sure, and he's loyal but that's about as far as it goes for him. He doesn't match you in brains or in wit and he's far too dense to ever have a truly serious conversation without inserting some sort of dumb comment about something or other."

Hermione pursed her lips as he discussed her former lover and was about to disagree when she realized that what she once found charming about Ron (like his random and not always intelligent comments) was no longer cute and instead, she found it to be a bit annoying. She chuckled and nodded in concede as she realized that, although he was being a bit crass, Draco was telling the truth. Ron never challenged her mentally; he always backed down when they had a fight and let her have her way instead of arguing a different opinion with her. The past four months since they had broken up had allowed her to see that the next person she dates _has_ to match her intellectually or it just won't work out. At all.

She smirked and shrugged. "Alright, you're not entirely wrong about that."

He chuckled and shook his head. "I'm never wrong," he joked. Hermione gave him an incredulous look and cocked her head to the side. "What?" he asked, feigning innocence.

She shook her head while a small smile appeared on her lips. "You, sir, are impossible."

He shrugged. "Better than being boring!"

Once again, she couldn't disagree. They fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes as they both looked out the window and watched as Colmar nightlife continued on. Suddenly, a small snore diverted their attention. They looked to the fireplace to find Benji sprawled out on his bed, snoring; _loudly_. Draco chuckled and Hermione sighed. "Well I'm glad _someone_ is able to get a good night's sleep."

The blonde looked to her and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

She ran her hands through her hair. "I've had a lot on my mind with work lately which makes it a little hard to sleep sometimes."

Draco nodded and his mouth formed an O. "Working on some big project?"

She nodded. "I am, actually. I've got a new potion that's currently going through trials right now."

"Wow, that's impressive. What kind of potion?"

"A memory fixing potion. It's supposed to be able to fix any damaged memories from an _Oblivion_ spell gone wrong or any other spell that would possibly cause memory loss. It's not working as well as I'd hoped, though. We've only tried it on weak cases like someone who can't remember their name or how to fly a broom and it's only seeing a small amount of success. I can't figure out what we're doing wrong," she sighed.

"Maybe I can help?" Draco suggested.

"Really?" Hermione asked.

Draco nodded. "Yeah. I've always been really good at potions. Perhaps I can help you figure out how to make it more effective… If you'd like?"

Hermione nodded. "Yeah, I- I think it'd be good to get a fresh perspective on it."

He nodded and gave her a small smile before looking to the clock on the wall. "We'll talk more about it later," he said, standing up. "I should get home."

"I'll walk you out," she replied. She followed him out and closed the door behind her, leaving the two of them standing on the steps. She gave him a small smile before looking at him concerned. "Are you okay? Really?"

The corner of his lips turned up slightly. "Don't worry about me, Granger. I'll be fine."

She shrugged. "I can't help it. It's in my nature to care about my friends."

He frowned slightly. "How can you still consider me a friend despite the fact that we haven't talked in six years?"

She chuckled. "A friendship isn't determined by distance, Draco; it's determined by the people involved."

He furrowed his brows in confusion at what she said. His brows furrowed even more as he saw her lean forward to him. She leaned on her toes and put one hand on his shoulder and kissed his cheek. Draco's eyes widened as her lips made contact with his skin. For the first time since he had first met Astoria, he felt like his skin was on fire. It tingled his cheek and suddenly his stomach was doing flips and he had chills running down his spine. He almost turned his head to have his lips meet hers but she pulled away before he could even fully process his thoughts. He attempted to control the blush that he was sure was growing on his cheeks now but she didn't seem to notice or care since she had a small blush on her face as well. Seeming completely unphased by it though, she squeezed his shoulder before turning back to her door. "Goodnight, Draco," she smiled before going back inside.

Draco lightly touched his cheek where she had kissed him. It still tingled but in a good way. As his fingers grazed his cheek, he couldn't help the smile that was beginning to grow on his lips. He wasn't sure what had just happened but he was starting to look forward to wherever it was going. He turned back and walked home, still smiling.

As for Hermione, she was leaning her back against her door trying to steady her breathing. She had no idea why she had just kissed Malfoy. No, it hadn't been on the lips but a kiss on the cheek was still an intimate thing to do and, even if they had been friends during their last year, they weren't that close to each other. She just had a crazy impulse to do it and she listened to it! She _never_ did that! She always thought everything through but the one time she didn't, she went off and kissed Draco freaking Malfoy! What made it worse was the butterflies she got in her stomach as her lips met his skin. She hadn't felt like that during a kiss in _years_ and it never felt like that when she kissed Ron.

She groaned in frustration. _Ron_! She just broke up with him a few months ago and here she is already kissing another man! And not just any man: Draco Malfoy! He would have a heart attack if he knew what she had just done. She paused for a second. No. She and Ron broke up which means he has no say over what she does anymore. Besides, she knows he'd already gone on a couple of different dates since their split and she didn't say anything so why would he do the same? No, Ron did _not_ have a deciding matter in her life anymore.

But Draco. Draco just finalized his divorce _yesterday_! What the hell was she thinking?! Oh right, she wasn't! He probably thinks she's insane and hates her again. She groaned and put her face in her hands. This just wasn't going well at all.

Taking a deep breath and running her hands through her hair, she determined that fretting about it tonight wasn't going to do her any good. She decided she'd talk to Draco tomorrow (if he still wanted to talk to her) before cleaning up the dishes and going upstairs to crawl into bed with Benji, who had woken up when Draco had left, following close behind. As she snuggled into bed, she looked out her window and sighed heavily. Sensing that something was wrong, Benji came up to where she was and laid his head next to hers. She gave him a small smile as he curled up next to her on the bed. Wrapping an arm around her dog, she fell into a restless sleep dreading the morning.

* * *

 _ **P.S. Yes, Luna and Blaise are together in this fic (again). What can I say, I love them together (I blame Isolation and Simply Irresistible for my obsession with those two). Anyway, I originally planned for Blaise and Pansy to be together but I changed it to Luna so that as the story continued, it would play out better. You'll see what I mean when I post Chapter 10...**_

 ** _Anyway, in the meantime, I REGRET NOTHING! Ha!_**

 ** _Stay Golden!_**


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Happy Tuesday! Hope you guys are having a good week! Thank you for all your reviews guys, they mean a lot! Please keep them coming!**_

 _ **Tallyho!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 6:**

Hermione woke the next morning to a wet nose and bad breath. She opened her eyes to find Benji standing over her staring at her. He had been waiting for her to wake up and as soon as she opened her eyes, he got excited and jumped off the bed, ran around the room, jumped back on the bed, then began to lick her face. Hermione sputtered as she sat up and pushed Benji away to stop him from licking her. Benji stopped only to nudge her arm and crawl underneath it then lay against her. Hermione laughed at her furry companion and patted him on the belly before getting out of bed, now too awake to go back to sleep. She jumped in the shower and let the warm water wake her up as she began to run through her plans for the day. She hoped to go check out the town library today as she heard it had some interesting history about the city and the country. She'd have to ask Draco if he knew anything about what the library had to offer.

She froze. _Draco_.

Shit. She couldn't ask Draco. Not after last night. Not after she freaking kissed him! Ugh, what had she been thinking?! She groaned and ran her fingers through her hair. Well, so much for a peaceful vacation. She debated on what to do for a moment before deciding that she would just apologize first then just go from there since avoiding him seemed to be out of the question since Colmar was fairly small. Nodding that was a good plan, Hermione finished her shower, jumped out and got dressed for the day. She pulled her hair into a braid and let it fall over shoulder before going downstairs to feed Benji and get herself some coffee.

Just as she was deciding what to make for breakfast, there was a knock at her front door. Furrowing her brows in confusion, she walked to the door and opened it. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw Draco standing on her front steps with a small smile on his face. It took her a minute to find her voice. "D-Draco?" she said, finally. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "I wasn't sure if you'd eaten yet but in case you hadn't," he lifted up a paper bag that Hermione hadn't noticed he was holding at first, "I brought breakfast," he said smiling. Hermione couldn't help the small smile that grew on her lips and she opened the door wider for him to come in.

She closed the door behind him and followed him into the kitchen. She pulled out a plate from the cabinet and he laid out everything on it. Hermione's brows raised as she looked at their breakfast arrangement: it varied from bagels to muffins to toast with jam packets on the side and even a small container of fruit. Draco gave a guilty smile to her as she looked at everything he got. "I wasn't sure what you liked so I just got… well, everything."

She chuckled. "That was very considerate of you; thank you." She hesitated before speaking again. "I, uh, I want to apologize for last night. Kissing you, I mean. I crossed a line and I shouldn't have done that and I-"

"Hermione," he said, interrupting her by putting his hand over hers. She looked at him and saw that he was smiling and his eyes were brighter than she had seen them in the days she had kept bumping into him. She also hadn't missed how he had said her name; it had rolled off his tongue so easily and even though it was a bit strange to hear, it also felt natural. She liked it. "You don't need to apologize," Draco continued. "You didn't cross a line last night."

"Oh," she said quietly suddenly very aware of how close they were. Her heart was beginning to beat faster and she could hear his breathing becoming more shallow. Before she knew it, they were leaning towards each other. Her eyes fluttered shut and their lips were inches apart before they both jumped by the sound of someone calling her name. Both froze as they waited to hear it again.

"Hermione?" a familiar voice said.

"Ginny?" Hermione asked, confused. She put a finger to her lips, telling Draco to be quiet while she investigated. Draco nodded and stayed in the kitchen petting Benji while Hermione followed the sound of her best friend's voice. "Oh! There you are!" Ginny said, as Hermione entered the living room. The brunette looked down into her fireplace to find Ginny's face peering through. Hermione looked back to the kitchen to make sure that Draco was hidden from sight before getting down on her knees and talking to her best friend.

"Merlin, Gin, you scared me!"

Ginny laughed. "Sorry! I would've let you know ahead of time but I don't know how to work Harry's phone."

Hermione laughed. "It's fine. Is everything okay?"

Ginny nodded. "Yeah, I just wanted to see how everything was in Colmar. What's it like? Are you having fun?"

Hermione nodded. "Yeah, it's great here! Listen, Gin, now's not a really good time. Can I call you later? I promise I'll tell you everything about this place, later."

"Sure! Do you have a date with a hot Frenchman?"

Hermione giggled. "No. I actually was going to go tour the town library and see what interesting facts I could find in there!"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Yuck! Hermione Granger, you are possibly the _only_ person I know who would go on vacation in France only to go explore a library! Seriously? You're in France! Go find a hot Frenchman, seduce him, and have a wonderful getaway with him. And if you like him, bring him home!"

Her eyes widened. "Ginny! Ron and I have only been broken up for four months!"

"So?! He's already gone a couple of dates since then. It's time you do too! Go get some sugar!"

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Okay, Gin, I'll get right on that. I have to go, I'll call you later!"

Ginny laughed. "You better," she said before disappearing from the fireplace. Hermione sighed in relief and fell onto the carpet on her back. As soon as she hit the ground, Benji came over and began to sniff her. She sat up before he could begin to lick her again and patted his head. Suddenly, she heard chuckling coming from the kitchen. She looked up and found Draco leaning on the doorframe, smirking.

"What?" Hermione asked, getting up from the floor.

He shook his head. "Good to see Weaslette hasn't changed."

"It's Potter now, actually." Hermione corrected. "They got married a couple years ago."

Draco shrugged. "Same difference."

She rolled her eyes and walked past him back into the kitchen, ignoring the tingling feeling she got when their hands brushed. She also ignored the butterflies in her stomach that she felt from their almost kiss. She needed something to distract her before she did something really stupid. Then her eyes fell back on the plate of pastries that Draco brought in. She realized that she was hungry and that they should eat before starting the day. Pushing the almost kiss into the back of her mind, she grabbed a mug, poured some coffee for Draco, and handed it to him before grabbing a muffin and her cup. "Grab what you want then follow me. I have something I want to show you."

Draco raised his eyebrows but grabbed a different muffin and his coffee before following her upstairs. Initially, she thought about them eating in the dining room but wanted to sit on her balcony. She debated for a quick second before shrugging and deciding that it wouldn't kill her to bring him upstairs and eat on the balcony together. As they climbed the stairs, she silently thanked Merlin that she was a generally clean person so there wouldn't be anything she didn't want Draco to see when they walked through her room. "Check this out," she said as she opened the doors to the balcony.

Draco's eyes widened as he took in her view. "Woah," he said.

"Isn't it beautiful? And it's private so I don't have anyone bothering me when I come out here to read or something."

"Yeah, it is," he replied quietly but he wasn't talking about the view. He snuck a glance at her to see if she noticed what he had meant but if she had, she gave no indication. She sat down and gestured for him to do the same in the other chair. He complied. They ate and drank coffee in a comfortable silence for a while as they watched the city wake up. Hermione yawned and stretched her arms as she readjusted herself in her seat. She turned slightly to find Draco watching her. Immediately, she was self conscious.

"What?" she asked, looking down at her shirt to see if she had spilled coffee on it.

Draco chuckled. "Nothing."

"Doesn't look like 'nothing.'" she challenged.

He shrugged. "I've just never seen you so relaxed before. Everytime I saw you in school, you always seemed so stressed and tense."

She laughed. "That tends to happen when you're friends with Harry and Ron."

He chuckled. "While I can imagine that's true, I meant whenever you were working on something school related. You always seemed so on edge."

She shrugged. "I throw my whole heart and soul into my work. I always have. In doing so, I became really focused and sometimes a little tense but if I wanted to get good grades I had to work hard, no matter what. Same thing applies to my career. I don't believe in sliding by; the only way to be successful is to work hard and to be passionate about what you do. So I did just that. It's who I am."

The edge of Draco's lips curved up slightly. He admired her dedication and her will to succeed. Her ambition would have made her an excellent Slytherin. He considered telling her that but thought better and kept it to himself. He liked seeing her so relaxed, though. She smiled bigger, her eyes were brighter, and she seemed happier all together. He had a feeling that had something to do with the break-up with Weasley too, which secretly made him happy. Weasley wasn't good enough for her.

Hermione needed someone who was just as smart as she was and could keep up in a conversation with her. She needed someone who would debate with her and challenge her to look at different views. She needed someone who would care for her and make her feel beautiful while still respecting her and giving her space when she needed it. She needed someone who was her equal in some ways and her opposite in others. She needed someone who would kiss her passionately and make love to her as if it were her last night on earth. She needed someone like… _him_.

Draco froze. No way. He couldn't think like that. He just divorced Astoria two days ago and she had only been broken up from Weasley for a few months. And sure, he liked her and he found he liked her company but that didn't mean he was right for her. They hadn't talked in six years for Merlin's sake! What the hell was he thinking? But only… that kiss last night and their almost kiss this morning… he thought about how those two made him feel and his stomach flipped. Uh oh… he was in trouble.

"So, anyway, I wanted to talk to you about my potion and see what you thought about fixing the problems I have with it," she said, pulling him out of his thoughts, completely unaware of the internal battle he currently had raging inside his head. He did a double take at her as he processed her words.

"Oh for Heaven's sake, woman, you can't be serious!" he exclaimed.

"What?" she said, confused. "You said you would help me."

He nodded. "And I will. It sounds fascinating and I'd love to look into it but _come on_ , you're on vacation. You should be enjoying yourself, not focusing on work." He put a hand up to stop her as she opened her mouth to retort. "We'll discuss your potion later. I swear on my honor as a Slytherin."

She huffed in defeat. "Fine."

"Great!" he replied, perking up. "So what did you want to do today?"

"Well, I really was considering going to the local library and reading up on the town."

Draco groaned. "Dear lord, woman, you're going to be the death of me. You can't go to the library while on vacation; it defeats the purpose of being on vacation! I'm starting to think that Weaslette was right in suggesting that you go seduce some poor unsuspecting local. At least _that_ would be fun."

She furrowed her brows. "For your information, the library can be fun." Draco snorted and shook his head. She continued as if she hadn't heard him. "As for Ginny's suggestion, no thank you. I learned my lesson with foreigners after the whole Viktor Krum thing. Besides, I met some of Fleur's friends at her wedding and I wasn't very impressed with the French's attempts at flirting. So thanks but no thanks."

Draco chuckled hiding his irritation at the mention of her ex Viktor Krum. He buried the feeling though as he convinced himself that it was the Bulgarian was a better Quidditch player than him rather than the fact that the had had a fling with Hermione. "Alright then," he continued, chuckling. "Well there's no way I'm spending the day in a _library_." He thought for a moment. "How about I show you St. Martin's Church? It has a lot of history and it's far better than a library."

Hermione chuckled and thought about it for a moment. "Alright," she nodded. "That sounds fun."

"Great," he said, jumping out of his seat. "Let's go!" With a flick of his wand, he vanished the muffin wrappers and mugs and followed Hermione back into the flat as she grabbed her bag and a map of the city she had picked up while wandering around the city her first day. She double checked that Benji had fresh water and food, put the rest of the pastries in the fridge then followed Draco out as they began their day, starting with a tour of the church.

While walking, Hermione, once again, listened to her impulses instead of her head and linked her arm with Draco's, pretending that she didn't feel the butterflies in her stomach at their touch. Draco looked down at their linked arms and smiled to himself, acknowledging that it felt nice to have her near him but still convinced himself it was because he was happy to have his friend back. Both put a facade up with each other while they remained in denial about what they were feeling on the inside.

It wouldn't last long, though.


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: Two chapters in one night (for those of you reading my Next Gen fic)! Aren't you guys lucky? So, I have no self control and stayed up until 2am a couple nights ago just slamming this story out 'cause I couldn't shut down my mind until I got all my ideas out. So this one is going to get updated at random times but pretty often. Please keep the reviews coming guys! They make my day.**_

 _ **Tallyho!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 7:**

The next few days hadn't allowed them to go exploring as it poured rain nonstop. Hermione had been a bit crestfallen as her vacation time was cut short by the weather but it didn't stop Draco from trying to make it fun. He usually went over to her flat since Benji was with her but one night he had invited her to his place to cook her dinner.

It hadn't looked anything like Hermione had imagined: she had imagined it to be grand with elegant furnishings everywhere. Instead, it was cozy and small (well, smaller than what she had imagined but it was still rather large). Unlike her flat, Draco's apartment was a one story with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a decent sized living room with a grand fireplace and a large kitchen that would make any professional chef jealous. Although the flat was relatively large, Hermione didn't feel threatened by the size of the place. With Draco there, it felt very homey. She then chastised herself for thinking such a thing but was quickly distracted by the beautiful plate of food that Draco placed in front of her.

He had made rosemary chicken with pasta and a pesto sauce on the side. It was absolutely heavenly. Hermione hadn't ever pictured Draco to be one for such domesticities and when she brought it up, he shrugged and smiled mischievously saying that he was full of surprises. Hermione merely smirked and shook her head. The conversation had remained light and comfortable and they shared many laughs as the night continued. The rain hadn't lightened up, however, and Draco hadn't been comfortable with letting Hermione walk back to her flat in this weather but she insisted, saying that she couldn't leave Benji alone for the whole night. He nodded in understanding and made her take one of his heavier cloaks to better shield her from the rain. She smiled at him and nearly kissed him on the cheek again but thought better of it and turned on her heels and left after thanking him again.

She got home in record time and was only slightly wet from the rain. Draco's cloak did the trick. She hung it up in her shower, unsure if a drying spell would damage it or not. As she curled up in bed that night, she smiled to herself as she thought about how her friendship with Draco had grown in a matter of just a few days. It felt great to have someone who cared about the same things she did and to have someone who would challenge her on certain topics of interest. She frowned, though, as she realized something: she was attracted to Draco. She was attracted to his smile, the way his eyes lit up when they talked, his voice. Everything about him was attractive. Hell, she'd be an idiot not to see that he was good looking, but that wasn't all that she found attractive. She found his thought process fascinating; he thought of things differently than she did which always led to interesting conversation and there was something about his personality that drew him to her.

She determined that she had always been drawn to him but due to school rivalries and the war, she had never been able to get to know him. That last year at school and the past few days had remedied that, however, and now all she found was that she wanted to get to know him more and more. Maybe even as more than just a friend. With that final thought, she drifted off to sleep with the sound of the rain beating against the window.

* * *

Hermione woke the next morning to the sound of more rain. She groaned as she stretched and looked out her window. _Well,_ _another day at home it is,_ she thought to herself. She showered and dressed for the day before going downstairs to feed Benji. As she nibbled on some toast, her cell phone began to ring. She looked at the caller ID and smiled as she saw _Mum_.

"Hi mum," she said smiling as she answered the phone.

"Hi honey!" her mother replied happily. "Happy Birthday!"

Hermione froze for a second then laughed. "Thank you, mum!"

"You forgot again, didn't you?" Helen asked, laughing.

Hermione shrugged. "Guilty as charged."

Helen sighed and chuckled. "You always did manage to forget your birthday at times. I hope that you forgot this time because you're having fun and not because you're focusing on work."

"It is, mum, I promise," Hermione said. "Sadly, it's been raining for the past few days though so I haven't been able to do a lot."

Her mother sounded disappointed. "I'm sorry, honey. I hope it clears up so that you can actually explore the city. Have you considered extending your leave?"

Hermione paused. "Kind of. I still have a couple weeks though so if the rain clears up, I may not need to."

She laughed as she heard her mother sigh. As Helen continued to tell her daughter what good it could do if she decided to stay on vacation a while longer, there was a knock at Hermione's door. Hermione continued to listen to her mother with interjecting a few times in between while she answered her door. What she saw made her freeze in place.

Draco was standing on her doorstep soaking wet from the rain and smiling. Immediately she came back to life and pulled him inside. "Hey, mum, I have to go. I'll call you later, okay?" she said as she closed the door quickly after getting him through the threshold.

"Okay, honey, have a great day. Happy birthday again. Oh, and dad sends his love!"

"Thanks mum. Love you both," she said quickly before hanging up the phone and putting it in her back pocket while turning to Draco. She was surprised when she was faced with a bouquet of roses that she hadn't noticed when he first arrived. "Happy birthday, Granger," he said, smiling.

A small smile grew on her face. "Draco, t-this is so thoughtful of you. How'd you know it was my birthday?"

He shrugged. "I remembered from back in school."

She raised an eyebrow. "You remembered my birthday back from when we were in school?"

"I have a very impressive memory," he smirked.

She returned the smirk before taking in his appearance. "Oh my God, you've got to be freezing! Come in here before you get sick!" She ushered him into the living room and lit a fire in the fireplace then sat him down on a blanket that she conjured for him in front of it. She took his wet cloak and replaced it with another blanket, then took the flowers and put them in a vase with water before coming back out with a hot cup of coffee to help warm him up. He chuckled as she fussed over him but said nothing. As she went back into the kitchen to get her own mug, Benji came up to Draco and curled up next to him. Draco smiled and pet the dog while waiting for Hermione.

As she walked back into the living room, she cocked her head to the side as she watched her furry companion curl up with the former Slytherin. "He seems to really like you," she remarked as she sat down next to him on the blanket in front of the fireplace.

"He must have good taste in character then," Draco joked.

Hermione rolled her eyes and tucked the blanket a little closer around him. "What the hell were you thinking? Walking around in this weather without an umbrella at least? Are you insane?"

He shrugged. "I wasn't really thinking about the weather. I just…" he trailed off.

"You what?" Hermione encouraged.

"I- I didn't want you to be alone on your birthday," he said quietly, looking into the fire.

Hermione's heart swelled and she smiled. "Thank you," she said quietly. "For thinking of me, I mean. And for the flowers. They're beautiful."

The corner of his lips perked up but he didn't look at her. "I wanted to surprise you and take you to a show or something but the weather kind of screwed me over."

She chuckled. "Well, I appreciate the thought but you don't have to do that."

He shrugged. "I wanted to."

"Why?"

He finally looked at her. As he looked into her eyes, he could feel his stomach clench. She looked so beautiful with that small smile on her face and her hair falling loose over her shoulders. His eyes flashed to her lips for a quick second before looking back to her eyes. He realized she was still waiting for an answer and cleared his throat. "No one should be alone on their birthday. And…" _Just say it!_ he told himself, "I like spending time with you."

The small smile she had on her lips transformed into a grin that only made him find her more beautiful than ever. "I like spending time with you too," she said quietly. His eyes lit up at that. They continued to smile to each other for a moment before they started to lean in. Understanding his cue to move, Benji walked out of the room as Draco scooted closer to her. They were inches apart, both of their breathing shallow. He hesitated before raising his hand to caress her cheek. She leaned into his caress and that gave the last bit of confidence that he needed to close the distance between them.

His lips were soft and fit with hers like a puzzle piece. At first, the kiss was tender and reserved but as Hermione began to run her fingers through his still wet hair, Draco deepened the kiss and wrapped his free arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. She sighed contentedly as she opened her mouth wider and let their tongues meet. Never breaking the kiss, Draco slowly laid her down on the blanket beneath them. Once they lied down, he began to leave a trail of kisses down her neck only to be interrupted by a very annoying buzzing sound.

Hermione groaned as she pulled her phone out from her back pocket. She looked at the caller ID and frowned when she saw the name _Harry_. "You're not going to answer that are you?" Draco half growled. She smirked at him and threw her phone off to the side. "Hell no," she replied mischievously before taking his face in her hands and continuing their snogging session. He chuckled into the kiss and tightened his grip on her. They continued to snog on and off in the same spot as the fire slowly died. The rain didn't lighten up.

Hermione laid her head on Draco's chest only to sit back up and feel his clothes with her hand. "What?" he asked, still lying down.

"Your clothes are still soaked. I think the only reason why you haven't gotten sick yet is because of the fire."

"And the snogging," he muttered.

She rolled her eyes and conjured some fresh and dry clothes for him with her wand. "Here," she said handing them to him. "Take these, go upstairs and take a shower. The hot water will warm you up. Leave your wet clothes hanging when you're done."

"Why can't I just use a drying charm?" he asked, sitting up to take the clothes.

She shook her head. "You've been in them too long. Even if we used a drying spell, your body temperature would still be cooler than normal which could still make you sick. Go shower."

"Join me?" he teased.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "In your dreams, Malfoy." He chuckled and leaned in for another chaste kiss before she ushered him off the floor and upstairs to go warm up. As he took a shower, she relit the fire, and vanished the blankets while grabbing her tossed aside phone and moving the two cups into the sink. She looked out the window and watched the rain fall down before turning around and leaning against the counter and sighing.

Well, that was one way to spend her birthday.

She definitely hadn't intended for the snogging session to happen but when he kissed her, she didn't want him to stop. She could kiss him for eternity. Something about kissing him and being with him just felt right. She liked how easy it was to be comfortable around him and how they could talk for hours about everything and nothing. And then that kiss: she had butterflies just thinking about how perfect that kiss had been.

Just before she got lost in thought about the kiss, however, her phone buzzed again. She looked at it and saw _Harry_ on the caller ID. "Hello," she said, answering the phone.

"Happy birthday!" she heard two people yell. She had to pull the phone away from her ear for a quick second before being able to listen to the line again.

"Thank you, guys," she said smiling.

"We tried to call you earlier but you didn't answer so then we tried the floo but it was blocked," Harry explained.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that. It's raining and a little cold here so I lit a fire and accidentally blocked the floo in the process. I've just been too lazy to fix," Hermione explained.

"No problem!" Ginny exclaimed. "What are you doing for your birthday?"

"Well, I can't exactly do much right now since it's pouring rain outside. I was just going to stay inside until the rain lightens up."

Just then, Draco walked back downstairs, dressed in the fresh clothes she had conjured for him and looking much warmer than when he had walked in. She smiled at him while listening to Ginny chatter away on the phone. He returned the smile and walked up to her. He brushed a curl behind her ear and she instinctively leaned into his touch. His smile grew and he leaned into her. She closed her eyes and let their lips meet. He chuckled into the kiss as he heard Ginny still talking on the phone. Suddenly, the other line went silent. "Gin?" Hermione asked, noticing the silence as Draco left a trail of kisses down her neck.

"Is there someone there with you?" she asked.

Hermione and Draco froze. She put a finger to his lips before responding. "No, why?"

"I swear I thought I heard a man laugh."

"Well, unless there's one hiding in my closet, there's no man here." Draco smirked and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh," Ginny sounded disappointed. "Alright, well I'll let you get back to reading a book on your _birthday_ , you boring person!" Hermione laughed. " _Please_! I don't care if it's raining, go find some hot Frenchman and make him take you out for your birthday."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Good _bye_ , Ginny," she said before hanging up the phone and putting it on the counter. She wrapped both arms around Draco's neck and he leaned his forehead against hers. "Now," she said, "where were we?"

He chuckled again. "Still don't want a hot Frenchman?"

"Still not my type."

"Well thank Merlin for that," he replied before crashing his lips against hers again.

She ran his fingers through his hair and he ran his fingers up and down her spine as their mouths fit together. When they broke the kiss for air, he leaned his forehead against hers again and she nudged her nose with his causing him to chuckle. She smirked at him but then pulled away to look at him.

"What?" he asked, furrowing his brows.

She sighed and rested her hands on his chest. "Should we really be doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"This," she gestured to both of them. "Us. What we've been doing all day."

"What's wrong with what we're doing?"

"Well, I mean you got divorced less than a week ago and yet we've snogged twice already and-" Draco cut her off with a soft kiss. She almost got lost in his lips but refused to be deterred. She parted their lips and looked down. "I just don't want whatever this is between us to be a mistake that we later regret," she said quietly.

He placed a finger underneath her chin and lifted it so she could look at him. He had a small smile on his face and his eyes were sparkling with something she couldn't quite place. "Nothing with you could ever be a mistake," he said softly. Her lips quirked up slightly. He moved his hand to caress her cheek. "As for the divorce, it only finalized something that no longer existed. I haven't been in love with Astoria for a very long time and I can promise you that she is the last thing on my mind right now. What _is_ on my mind is you and how I feel when I'm around you. I've had more fun spending time with you this past week than I've had since… well, I don't know when. I like you, Hermione and whatever it is that we have going on here… I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. Do you?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't."

He shrugged. "Then let's just take whatever _this_ is day by day, okay? I don't know what this is but I'm willing to find out."

She smiled. "Me too."

"Good," he smiled at her before capturing her lips in a passionate kiss.


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N: Nothing to report today... Enjoy!**_

 _ **Tallyho!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 8:**

The rain stopped the next day and Draco and Hermione continued their adventure through Colmar, taking Benji with them on most days. One of the days that Benji was left at home was when Draco surprised her with their own private gondola ride on the canal. Hermione couldn't stop smiling throughout the ride. At night, they would eat dinner together and spend the rest of the night talking.

He had stayed at her place a couple of times during a couple of late nights in the guest room because he had either "had too much to drink and didn't trust himself apparating" or "they would be seeing each other the next day anyway so why not just stay the night?" The first couple times he slept there, he had been woken up by Benji jumping on the bed and curling up next to him in the middle of the night. The third time he had been woken up, was during a loud clap that sounded like thunder. He looked out the window but couldn't see anything. He shrugged it off at first but when he heard it again, he decided to investigate. Benji followed him as he walked down the hall to find out what the noise was but crashed into Hermione halfway.

"Sorry!" she said. "I didn't see you. Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I was just trying to figure out what that noise is. Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah. And I know what the noise is. Come with me." She grabbed his hand and led him back into her room and onto the balcony. "It's fireworks," she said, smiling. He smiled as he looked at the view. The most beautiful fireworks were being shot off from somewhere in town. The sky was filled with bright colors that lit up both of their faces. He looked at her and his smile grew as he saw the large grin on her face. Feeling his gaze, Hermione turned to look at him. They stood there smiling at each other for a moment before he leaned in to her. She stood on her toes and let her lips meet his.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him and she threw her arms around his neck. As the kiss deepened, Hermione began to walk backwards back into her bedroom. They kept walking until the back of her knees hit the bed causing her to fall over, taking Draco with her. They laughed as they fell onto the bed before meeting their lips again. They would spend the night tangled together in the sheets. Although it hadn't been either of their intentions, both agreed that it was the best spontaneous decision they had made. The fireworks had stopped around one in the morning, leaving just the sounds of the city late-night nightlife for their company. Hermione was nuzzling Draco's neck with her nose, sending chills down his spine, as he ran his fingers down her spine, giving her chills in return. They laid in a comfortable silence, cuddled together as they fell asleep in each other's arms.

Hermione woke before Draco the next morning and smiled at the sight of him before throwing a pair of shorts and a loose t-shirt on and going downstairs to feed Benji and start making coffee. While putting the coffee in the coffee maker, Benji stood on his hind legs and placed his front paws on the counter next to her as if he were looking for something. Hermione chuckled and pulled a dog treat out from the small container she had placed them in. "Is this what you're looking for?" she asked as she placed the treat in front of him. He sniffed it but pushed it away with his nose instead of eating it like she had expected. Instead, he continued to look around the counter but whatever he was looking for, he couldn't find so he dropped back down to all fours and wandered off back upstairs. Hermione watched her furry companion walk away and shook her head in confusion before going back to making the coffee.

Not less than five minutes later, she heard Benji come back downstairs but paid him no mind as she hummed to herself while reading the newspaper that had just been dropped off. Suddenly, she felt her hair get moved aside and a soft pair of lips kissed the base of her neck, causing chills to go down her spine. "Good morning," she chuckled.

"Good morning, indeed," he said, against her skin. He placed his hands on her hips and turned her around to face him before kissing her on the mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled into the kiss. Their kiss was broken, however by a loud bark. They looked towards the sound to find Benji sitting with a tennis ball in front of him, wagging his tail in anticipation. "Oh, _that's_ what you were looking for," Hermione said as she picked up the ball. She tossed it and Benji took off after it only to come back a minute later with it in his mouth. Draco and Hermione chuckled at the dog and threw the ball again before grabbing some coffee and the paper and sitting together at the dining table. Draco continued to play fetch with Benji while Hermione mused over the paper.

"Anything interesting in the outside world?" he joked.

She smirked. Because there was only an hour difference between Colmar and London, they were able to stay up to date on the news when the _Daily Prophet_ arrived. "Well, Neville and his wife, Hannah, bought the Leaky Cauldron, Flourish and Blotts reopened after months of renovation, and… hm."

"What?" Draco asked.

"Well, it's actually about Astoria…" she trailed off.

"Oh? What did she do now?" Draco asked, sounding only mildly interested as Benji put his front paws on his lap.

She watched him as he scratched underneath Benji's chin before going back to the paper. "She and her paramour are engaged," she said quietly, watching his reaction. He didn't flinch or hesitate like she expected. He seemed completely indifferent, actually. "Oh?" he asked, disinterestedly. "And what does the paper say about my viper ex-wife?"

Hermione chuckled and cleared her throat. "'Astoria Greengrass and Sean Andrews, son of Lucas and Madeline Andrews and heir to the Andrews International Development Corporation are engaged.' Hm, well you have to admit, the girl has taste," she joked. Draco chuckled and she continued reading. "'The couple has only been together for a few months but claim to be madly in love. Some say that Ms. Greengrass' engagement comes a bit too quickly considering she only officially divorced her now ex-husband, Draco Malfoy a few weeks ago; however, there are rumors of Ms. Greengrass' infidelity while married to the Malfoy heir which also spark questions about this seemingly rushed engagement. When asked about it, Ms. Greengrass made no comment and instead began to gush about wedding plans. As for her ex-husband, Draco Malfoy took a personal holiday just as the divorce process started and has not been heard from or seen since. Time will only tell how he will react when he hears the news.'" Hermione folded the newspaper and put it down on the table. She looked at him and watched his face for a reaction to the paper.

He sipped his coffee thoughtfully before speaking. "I give it about a year," he said.

"Draco," she scolded.

"What? It's not like I'm wishing her any ill will; I just know that she's a creature of habit. She'll be madly in love with him for a year before she gets bored and moves on."

"Is that what happened with you?" Hermione asked quietly.

He shrugged. "We were together longer before she cheated but for all I know her current beau wasn't the first. He was just the first I found out about."

She studied him. "You seem oddly calm about all this."

He put his cup down and looked at her. "I don't really care anymore. She made her choice and I made mine. She is not a part of my life anymore. Astoria and I are over for good. I don't want her back. Not now, not ever." He clasped his hands over hers. "Besides, I've found someone else who I like spending time with a lot more."

Hermione smiled at him and he returned it before leaning in to kiss her. Although this kiss was tender, it still left both of them breathless when they broke for air. She squeezed his hands before taking a deep breath and leaning back. She bit her lip before speaking. "I need to talk to you about something."

He furrowed his brows. "Okay, what is it?"

"As you know, my leave is over at the end of the month-"

"You're not going to take off an extra month?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I can't. I have to get back to work and get back to my potion. It's going to lose sponsors if I don't fix it soon and I need those sponsors. They're keeping the money coming for the research and if I lose them, I lose all the work I've done on this potion and any chance of helping those with severe memory loss will be crushed."

"So you were wondering if I could help you while you still have time before you have to go back?" Draco summed up.

She nodded quietly. "I'm sorry," she said. "I know that you probably want to focus on your vacation and I know that I should too but I can't just put my job behind me when I have so much depending on me and I don't know when or even _if_ you're going back to London and-" Draco cut her off with a kiss.

He pulled back and smiled at her. "I would love to help you with your potion. It sounds fascinating and I look forward to learning all about it. As for when I go back to London, well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Hermione gave him a small smile, ignoring the sad feeling she got in the pit of her stomach as she thought about what would happen when she returned to London and he wouldn't be going back with her. "Would you mind if we got started today?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Not at all. Let me run back to my place and change and I'll come back here and we'll get cracking on it."

She nodded and gave him a soft kiss. "Thank you so much."

He kissed her forehead as he stood up. "Of course, love." Hermione was grateful that he was walking away so he couldn't see her blush as his comment. She watched his retreating figure go upstairs and smiled to herself as she secretly admired his chiseled physique.

What? It's hard not to admire a man like that after spending the night with him in your bed.

He gave her another quick kiss before apparating out of the apartment. Hermione had taken down the wards for him to apparate into her apartment since no one else knew the exact address of where she lived. While he was gone, she ran upstairs and took a quick shower before getting dressed and pulling out all her files on her potion. By the time Draco came back, the dining table was covered in papers while Hermione sat at the head of the table reading a variety of documents.

Benji greeted Draco happily by jumping on him and nearly knocking the former Slytherin down, causing Hermione to look up from her papers. She smiled at the sight in front of her as Draco scratched her furry companion all over causing him to wag his tail excitedly. Hermione chuckled when Benji fell on the floor from excitement. "He is such a basket case," she said, standing up and walking towards him.

Draco chuckled. "I like him."

"Did you ever have a pet as a kid?"

He shook his head. "Just the owls; and the peacocks. I always wanted a dog but my father is allergic, sadly."

She smirked. "Let me get this straight, Lucius Malfoy's greatest weakness is a dog? He's one of the most powerful and wealthy wizards in the world and yet, he gets severe sniffles from a dog?"

Draco laughed. "I know, right? It's pretty ridiculous. Whenever I go back to London, I'm planning on getting a dog of my own. Or six."

She laughed. He smiled at the sight and captured her lips in a kiss. He learned that he loved the sound of her laugh and anytime he heard it, it brought a smile to his face. This time, however, he wanted to not only capture her lips but her laugh and her smile as well. He wanted to feel her happiness become his own. He hadn't voiced his feelings, but he really liked Hermione. He wasn't falling in love with her; not yet. But he felt the potential for what they had to grow into something more and he didn't want to let the opportunity pass. He would wait to make his move, however.

When they broke the kiss, they stood and just enjoyed being in each other's embrace before breaking the moment to work on the potion. They stood there for a few minutes before Hermione sighed. "Shall we get started?" He smiled and nodded. She gave him one last chaste kiss before walking back to the dining table with him following close behind.

As they approached the table she began to explain the process of what she and her team had already done to make the potion and how the desired effects had worked so far. "We were hoping that by the time I left, we'd have the potion being started on more severe cases but it only worked two out of seven times we tried it on different minor cases. The two people that the potion _did_ work on were able to remember their name and were able to speak the English language again, respectively, but everyone else didn't seem to have a reaction to it. As Hermione explained about the trials and any other details regarding the potion, Draco was going over the ingredients for the potion.

"Did you ever try increasing the amount of gillyweed?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes. We increased it twice and it didn't do anything."

"Hm…" he said.

They spent the next few hours going over different variations of the potion, all of which either she or her team had tried and had not seen any success. They had been so wrapped up in their discussion that they missed lunch. Hermione didn't even notice the pang of hunger in her stomach until it was nearing dinner and her stomach growled. She frowned at her abdomen, frustrated that her body was requesting something as trivial as food when she had other things she needed to focus on.

Draco chuckled at her. "Frowning at your stomach isn't going to make your hunger go away."

She huffed and looked at him. "Well it would sure as hell make everything easier if it did."

He smirked at her and organized all the scattered papers with a flick of his wrist (showing off some impressive wandless magic at the same time) before standing up and reaching his hand out to her. "Come on, let's put this aside for the night and grab some dinner. You could use a break, anyway." She hesitated. "Hermione," Draco said, "there's not going to be some drastic change from now until we pick this back up tomorrow. Come on, take a break and have dinner with me. Then, we'll come back and I'll keep you distracted all night." He winked at her as he finished his sentence.

She rolled her eyes and smirked before taking his outstretched hand and standing up. He pulled her into a quick but passionate kiss before letting her go to grab her bag. They gave Benji some extra food before going to a small cafe and enjoying the evening together. Draco stayed true to his word and after they returned to Hermione's flat after dinner, he distracted her in one of the best ways he knew how. And it worked.

As they lay in bed together that night, Hermione realized something. She was beginning to fall for Draco. Although it had only been a couple of weeks since they had reconnected, they had grown incredibly close. She trusted him and cared for him and had gotten to know him better than she had ever expected while spending time with him. And with that realization, she understood that leaving Colmar without him while she felt this way would be hard. She could only hope that when it came time to leave, she would have her feelings figured out. And if she did, then she hoped she could convince him to come back to London with her.

* * *

 ** _P.S. Follow me on Tumblr: im-hurricane-drunk (The Gemini Diaries)_**


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: So school starts Monday... (drops dramatically to knees and cries NOOOO!) *clears throat* Anyway, get prepared, guys, because the next chapter is one of my favorites (and I think it will be yours too). But in the meantime, here's chapter 9! Keep the reviews coming!**_

 _ **Tallyho!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 9:**

The next week continued in the same fashion. They would spend a majority of the day going over different potion making methods and ingredients that might have an effect on the strength of the potion. On any option that Hermione hadn't tried, she would quickly write a letter to Healer Austen, giving him instructions to give it to her team who would then follow the instructions she wrote for them to test it out on the potion. At first, Healer Austen was a bit taken aback at the letter Hermione had sent him while she was supposed to be on vacation but quickly pushed his surprise aside when he saw her insistence that her team get the instructions as soon as possible. She would send him a variety of more letters with different instructions for her team and in return, would receive a letter back telling her the results of the new tests. There had been some minor changes but nothing that would suggest it was ready for more serious cases.

Draco found as they worked through new ideas, tossing more aside than they were sending to Healer Austen, Hermione never once got discouraged. If anything, she became more determined to find the answer that would perfect her potion. Draco admired her determination. In school (before the war), he might have insulted her for working so hard but now all he felt was awe as he watched her work so diligently to help better people's lives.

Whenever she would start to get stressed, Draco would take over and put away all the documents before pulling her into a searing kiss that would leave her breathless. Then, he'd take her upstairs and make her forget all about the outside world, although, sometimes they didn't make it that far. More than once they had found themselves on the couch or the living room floor and once, on the dining room table. They had been a little too impatient that time.

When they weren't working on the potion or making love, they would take Benji on a walk around the city and talk about everything and nothing. More than once, while walking, Hermione would link her arm with Draco's and lean her head on his shoulder as if it were the most natural thing to do. Draco would smile every time she did it and he had become accustomed to the feel of the gesture. Once, while telling Hermione a story about his childhood, he grabbed her hand and entwined his fingers with hers, without giving it a second thought. Hermione had to control the smile that was growing on her face and pushed the butterflies in her stomach away as she reveled in the way that holding his hand made her feel and at how natural it was for him to make the gesture.

Benji had grown quite attached to Draco as well. They wouldn't let him in the room while they were preoccupied with each other, but before they would fall asleep, they'd open the door so Benji would have access to their room and the dog door if he needed it throughout the night. Hermione would usually wake up before Draco did so as she would get up to shower or go downstairs to make coffee, Benji would jump on the bed and curl up next to Draco as the blonde slept. During the day, Benji would consistently attempt to get Draco to play with him, which he would usually comply. Draco would throw suggestions out to Hermione while playing fetch or tug-of-war with Benji or just simply petting him, keeping his stress level down while entertaining the furry companion.

One morning, Hermione woke to a tapping sound on her window. She opened her eyes and saw that an owl was tapping furiously on her balcony door holding a letter in it's talons. Groaning, she left the warmth of her bed and Draco's embrace and threw on a robe before opening the balcony doors to let the owl in. It quickly dropped the letter off in her hands before flying away. She turned the envelope around to find the familiar scrawl of her boss on it.

She turned around and walked back to the bed to sit on it only to find that Benji had taken her spot. She frowned at her familiar and snapped her fingers, signalling for him to move over. He understood the command and moved to the foot of the bed, allowing Hermione to crawl back into her spot next to Draco, who she had yet to notice had woken up when she moved to get the letter. He watched her silently open the letter and read it with her bright brown eyes. He watched in confusion as her eyes widened then filled with tears. He decided to make his conscious state known when she put her hand over her mouth to muffle a sob. "Hermione?" he said, sitting up and putting a strand of hair behind her ear. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head and wiped her eyes. "N-nothing. It's what's _right_ actually."

He furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

"It's from Rory, my boss," she explained. "The team tried out our suggestion of mixing arrowroot and valerian root together and adding more water at the same time."

His eyes widened as he realized what she was saying. "And?"

She choked back a sob. "I-it worked! Draco, it worked! The potion changed to a more light purple color which my team took as a good sign and tested it out on a minor case and saw immediate improvement! Then they tried it out on three more and it worked each time! Oh my God, it worked! We did it!" She had tears running down her face as she spoke with a large grin on her face. Draco's face lit up at the news and he pulled her into a tight hug. She sobbed tears of happiness and relief while holding onto him tightly.

He kissed her hair and smiled. "I'm so proud of you."

She sniffled and laughed in relief as she pulled out of the hug to wipe her eyes. Benji bounded towards her as they broke their embrace causing her to laugh. She hugged her dog before looking back to Draco. His eyes showed pride, admiration, and something else she couldn't quite place. Before she could contemplate it, though, Draco grabbed her face and pulled her in for a passionate kiss. She wrapped her arms around his torso - gently nudging Benji with her knee causing him to jump off the bed - and pulling him flush against her before running her fingers through his hair. He wrapped one arm around her waist to keep her close as he laid them down on the bed.

They made love passionately, gently, and all the ways in between. Something was different about this time, however. With every kiss, touch, and sweet word spoken, their bond grew as did their feelings for each other. The late morning found them tangled together in the sheets, breathing quietly with their eyes closed enjoying the feel of their skin touching. Draco's hand was caressing her face, his thumb running across her cheek and lips. He looked at her and felt something in his chest that he had never felt before: love. He thought he loved Astoria when they first got married but that was nothing compared to what he felt right now. What he felt back then was adoration and lust for a beautiful woman. But that's all Astoria was: beautiful. Sure, she was clever as hell but she looked out for herself only and was as conniving as Salazar Slytherin himself; she was so one sided.

Hermione, on the other hand, was many things wrapped up into one human being. Not only was she beautiful but she was intelligent. She was a hard-worker, determined, fierce, and not afraid to speak her mind. She was a fascinating conversationalist and there was never a dull moment when talking to her. Her face lit up when she smiled and her laugh was infectious. He trusted her. He had confided in her some of his fears and some of his not so happy memories as a child and she hadn't judged him. Instead, she had just held his hand and gave him a reassuring smile that told him it was okay. That gesture alone made such a huge difference to Draco.

She made him feel comfortable and safe. Whenever Draco was with Astoria, he felt like he was trapped in a box. When he was with Hermione, he felt like he was home.

 _This_ was love. Not what he had with Astoria. That was a farce. This, however, was what it felt like to have someone hold your entire heart and trust that they wouldn't hurt you. Somehow, Draco knew that she would be that person he could trust with not just his heart but his soul. He loved her and the gods be damned if he let her get away.

"Hermione," he said quietly.

"Hm?" she replied, her eyes still closed.

"When are you going back to London?"

She opened her eyes and looked at him. "I'm supposed to leave Wednesday morning."

"What time?"

She furrowed her brows. "Eleven-thirty. Why?"

He took a deep breath. "Because I'm going back with you."

Her eyes widened for a moment before she sat up and leaned on her elbow to get a better look at him. "Seriously?"

He nodded. "If you'll have me, of course. I don't want to intrude but I… I like you, Hermione. And I'm a little tired of pursuing this day by day. I'd like to see if we could turn this into something more."

Hermione could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She knew she loved him, that much was clear to her. Spending day after day with him had allowed her feelings to grow. She wanted to always spend time with him, talk to him, kiss him, and just be around him in general. He listened to her and looked at her like she was the only woman he had eyes for. And she was. She was crazy about him and knew that she wanted to continue what it was they had and couldn't help but smile when he said that he wanted to as well. But the fact that he wanted to go back to London with her to pursue a relationship with her is what made her heart swell. She grinned at him and looked to the side of the bed where Benji was lying. "What do you say, Benji?" she asked. "Do you think we should let him come back home with us?"

Benji perked up at her question and began to wag his tail. He barked his confirmation at her. She chuckled and looked back to Draco. "I do believe that was his way of saying yes." He smiled at her. "Yes, Draco, I'd love to see where you and I could go with this relationship. We (Benji and myself) would love it if you came back to London with us."

His smile grew. "I look forward to it," he said before capturing her lips in another kiss.

* * *

 _ **P.S. For those of you wondering, yes, we will see Astoria but not for a few more chapters. So, you must be patient in the meantime.**_

 _ **Stay Golden!**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N: This is my favorite chapter in this story and I really hope you guys enjoy it (I think you will). The second part of this chapter had been planned since the beginning of the story so getting to write it out was so fulfilling! Be sure to tell me what you think!**_

 _ **Tallyho!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 10:**

Hermione had written a reply to Healer Austen letting him know of her plans to return home and back to work to begin the trials of the potions on more severe cases. Draco had also written a quick letter to his parents, letting them know of his plans to return home. After packing up their belongings and closing up his parent's summer house, Hermione, Draco, and Benji returned to London together.

Hermione returned to her flat with Benji while Draco returned to his apartment to drop off his things before stopping by Malfoy Manor. His mother had been thrilled to see him return, especially since he seemed far happier than when he had left. His father, well, Lucius had never been big on showing emotion, even behind closed doors but the smirk that he gave his son told Draco that his father was happy to see him home.

A couple days after returning from Colmar, Draco decided to surprise his friends at the Leaky Cauldron. Every Friday, Theo and Daphne, Blaise and Luna, and Draco (who would usually attend with Astoria) all met at the Leaky Cauldron for lunch and catch up with each other. Draco hadn't had a chance to let his friends know that he had returned so this would be a surprise for them. He only hoped that Astoria wouldn't be with them.

His hope was answered when he only saw two familiar couples at the table. He nodded to Hannah Abbott-Longbottom (who was behind the bar) as he walked to their table. Daphne, Theo, and Blaise all had their backs to him but Luna, who was facing him, perked up when she saw him. He put his finger to his lips signalling for her not to say anything as he creeped up behind Daphne. He smirked before putting his hands on her waist and squeezing, knowing that she was ticklish in that spot. She yelped and jumped before looking behind her to see who had tickled her. Draco smirked at her as her expression changed from irritation to surprise.

"Draco!" she exclaimed, jumping out of her chair and into his arms causing him to laugh as he hugged her back. "What are you doing here?" she asked, pulling out of the hug. "We thought you were still in Colmar?"

"I was," he replied. "I just got back on Wednesday." He greeted Theo and Blaise before Luna pulled him into a bear hug that he had grown used to as he spent more time with her. They all sat down and Draco ordered a drink before they all bombarded Draco with questions.

"How was Colmar?" was the most common question asked.

He smiled at his friends. "Colmar was… great, actually."

"Really?" Luna asked. "Because you seemed really sad when we went to visit you."

He shrugged. "I wasn't in a good place at that time but I'm okay now." _Better than okay, actually,_ he thought to himself. _I feel like I'm on Cloud Nine._

Even though he hadn't voiced his thoughts aloud, the look Luna gave him suggested that she had heard them anyway. "Your improvement in demeanor wouldn't have anything to do with a certain curly haired brunette, would it?" she said.

Draco's eyes widened at the blonde while everyone else looked between the two in confusion. Draco regained his composure and narrowed his eyes at Luna, daring her to expand on her statement. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Luna."

She smirked- a trait she had picked up from Blaise. "Don't play games, Draco; leave that to the Ravenclaw. You know exactly what I mean."

Ever since Luna and Blaise had gotten together, she had grown quite comfortable around the small group of former Slytherins and wasn't afraid to call them out when she knew they were bluffing about something. Daphne was one of the first she started it with, noticing the pregnancy symptoms before _she_ had. Luna was also one of the first to notice when Draco and Astoria were starting to have marriage problems. As annoying as everyone found it at times, they also found it kind of nice because she always managed to begin the conversations that they had so desperately wanted to start but didn't know how. This was one of those times, however, when Draco wasn't sure if he appreciated her efforts or not.

"I take it you two have spoken, then?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.

She nodded. "We went out for coffee yesterday. It didn't take long. We managed to get it out of her fairly easily." He huffed in frustration. _Great,_ he thought. _I was hoping we'd be able to keep it quiet for a bit longer._ "Don't be mad at her," Luna defended. "One, Ginny coerced her into telling us every detail of her trip and two, she looked about ready to burst with happiness prior to spilling. Trust me, when a girl is in-" she stopped herself as she saw Draco's eyes plead not to say the words _in love_. They may have felt that about each other (he assumed she felt that way, anyway) but they hadn't said it yet and he didn't want to mention it to his friends until he was sure. "when a girl feels the way she does, it's hard to keep a straight face no matter how hard you try."

He almost smiled before something Luna said appeared in his mind. "Every detail?"

Luna chuckled at the blonde Slytherin. "Well, she didn't get into _too_ much detail, but she told us enough."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm afraid to ask what 'enough' entails," he joked.

Before Luna could respond, however, Daphne groaned in frustration. "Would you two _please_ care to explain what on _earth_ you're talking about? It's incredibly hard to keep up with the conversation when I have absolutely _no clue_ as to what you're talking about."

Theo chuckled at his wife and patted her shoulder. "She's got a point. I am curious as to what- or should I say _who_ \- you two are mysteriously referring to."

Draco looked to Luna, who was still smirking, before sighing in defeat. "I sort of met someone in Colmar," he started.

"Yeah, that much we got, mate," Blaise scoffed. "But by the sound of it, she knows Luna which is weird in itself since, to my knowledge, the only French person Luna knows is Ginny's sister-in-law- unless I'm mistaken, love?" he asked her. She shook her head and smiled. Blaise looked back to Draco. "Which suggests that it's possibly someone that _we_ know…"

Draco said nothing. Theo smirked. "Fess up. Who is it?"

Draco made a point to glare at Luna who matched his glare with an expression that said _Really? Like you wouldn't have told us eventually, anyway._ He sighed in defeat before speaking. "Granger," he said quietly.

Theo and Blaise's eyes widened while Daphne gasped. "What?!" she said, her voice just above a whisper. Draco internally groaned as he waited for the reprimanding from his friends. But it never came. Instead, they just gaped at him. He began to get uncomfortable as they all stared at him.

"Could one of you say something?" he said, finally. "It's getting a bit awkward with all of you just staring at me."

Daphne was the first to speak. "But I thought she was engaged to Weasley?"

He shook his head. "They broke up a while ago."

That piqued her interest. "Alright, I want details. How did you and Granger happen? And don't leave anything out."

Draco rolled his eyes and glanced at Luna who was looking off somewhere else in the restaurant but he noticed the ghost of a smirk on her lips. He sighed audibly then began to explain his reconnection with Hermione in Colmar. He started off with their run-in at the farmer's market then continued from there, getting more comfortable talking about it as he continued. He wasn't even aware he had a smile on his face until he finished explaining what happened between him and Hermione. Blaise and Theo were smirking at him, Luna was off in her own world, and Daphne was smiling back at him.

His smile fell slightly as he looked to his ex-sister-in-law. "I'm sorry, Daph," he started. "I realize how awkward this might be for you."

She shook her head. "No need to be sorry, Draco. I'm glad you're happy. Whatever it is that's going on between you and Granger seems to be doing some good because I haven't seen you smile like you are right now in a long time." He squeezed her hand at that. "And, it makes what I have to say next a little easier," she said.

"If it's about Astoria getting engaged to that Andrews guy, I know all about it."

Daphne's eyes widened. "You do?"

He nodded. "We were in Colmar, Daph, not the Antarctic. Hermione ordered a subscription to the _Daily Prophet_ so we were able to stay in touch with what was going on here."

Theo raised an eyebrow. "What?" Draco asked.

Theo smirked. "I didn't realize you and Granger were so close that you were on a first name basis."

Draco's eyes widened as he realized his slip of tongue in using Hermione's given name. Daphne chuckled at his expression and patted his hand. "Don't be embarrassed, Draco. I think it's sweet."

He rolled his eyes. "That's just what I need. Draco Malfoy, former Slytherin and heir to the Malfoy fortune is _sweet_ ," he joked, grimacing at the word. Daphne laughed.

Theo leaned over to his wife and whispered into her ear. "I'm sure _Hermione_ thinks he's sweet." Daphne covered her mouth and tried to control her laughter while Draco just glared at Theo.

"Watch it, Nott, or I'll tell your wife about that accident in Fifth Year."

Theo's eyes widened at the threat and quickly took a swig of his drink to keep from answering everyone's questioning glances. Draco chuckled before looking back at Daphne. "How's my favorite godson?" he asked.

Daphne rolled her eyes. "He's your only godson, Draco, and he's great. He's been sleeping through the night which is a miracle in itself. He looks more and more like Theo everyday, too," she smiled at her husband and laid her head on his shoulder.

"He has your eyes, though, Daph," Luna said.

She smiled. "Thanks, Luna. How's the wedding planning going?"

Blaise groaned and Luna laughed. "That bad?" Daphne asked.

Luna shook her head. "It's been a bit stressful but the guest list is finally done. We're going to keep it as small as possible and probably just get married on my father's property. That's about as far as we've gotten though."

"I still think we should elope," Blaise said.

"And feel the disappointed stare of my father on my back for the rest of my life? No thank you," Luna joked. The only reason why they were even planning a wedding in the first place was because Xenophilius was dying to walk his daughter down the aisle. As Luna's last living relative, it was important to him to give his daughter away and she didn't want to disappoint him. Plus, Blaise respected the man too much to runaway with his daughter so, he complied and they began to plan a small and intimate wedding.

Draco chuckled. "Speaking of weddings, my parent's anniversary is coming up. And, as you all know my mother and how she loves to socialize, she's going to throw a big party to celebrate. You're all invited, of course."

Daphne smiled. "I love your mum's parties. I always leave stuffed like a turkey but they're great fun. Plus, I just adore your parents. We'll be there."

"Same," Blaise confirmed.

Draco smiled. "Thanks, guys. It's always easier to go through those things when I have someone to talk to."

Theo smirked. "Are you going to invite Granger?"

He shrugged. "I haven't told my parents about her yet but I probably will."

Blaise laughed. "Please call me as soon as you do tell them! I can't _wait_ to hear how your father reacts!"

* * *

On the other side of town, Hermione was at St. Mungo's with Neville Longbottom discussing the testing of her potion. It had been tested on one severe case the day before, where the person believed that they were a bird, and when they took the potion, within minutes, their memory returned and they remembered who they were and what their life was like before their accident. The person's family members cried with joy and Healer Austen smiled proudly at Hermione and told her to try the potion on the next case of her choice.

After a lot of thought and discussion, she chose Alice and Frank Longbottom. She knew how much it pained Neville to have grown up knowing his parents would never know who he was. She hoped that, with the new success of the potion, she'd be able to repair their memories (even if just a little), in order to help Neville and his parents.

"Neville, I have to warn you," Hermione said, "there is still a chance that, with your parent's conditions, the potion may not work. It's worked on all the minor cases and the one major case we tested it out on but under the circumstances of their state, we need to be prepared for anything and that includes the possibility of the potion not working."

"I understand," Neville said. "What I want to know is, will the potion hurt them if it doesn't work?"

She shook her head. "No. It's like muggle ibuprofen: it attacks the issue and attempts to repair it but if there's nothing to fix, it'll just run through their system like water and cause no harm. If it does work, well, we'll see what happens." She handed him a clipboard and a quill. "If you're okay with us testing the potion on your parents, I need you to sign the bottom of the consent form."

Neville took a deep breath and, with a shaking hand, signed the bottom of the paper then handed the clipboard back to Hermione. She nodded at it then smiled at him. "Let's get started, shall we?"

Together, they walked to the ward where the Longbottoms stayed. As they approached Neville's parents, Hermione could see that her friend was nervous. "You can still back out if you want to, Neville. I know it's a lot to ask for so I won't push you into doing this."

He shook his head. "I want to try it."

She nodded and pulled two vials of the potion out of her pocket. She pulled out two plastic cups from a tray next to Alice's bed and poured the potion into each cup. Then she walked over to Alice first. "Hello, Alice," she said. "I have something for you." Alice moved her head, slightly as she quietly acknowledged the girl but made no sound and stared into space. "I think you'll like it," Hermione continued. She gently placed her hand on Alice's cheek and when the woman didn't flinch, she moved her hand to the woman's chin and slowly opened her mouth, allowing her to pour the potion into her mouth. Then, she did the same thing with Frank.

Afterwards, Hermione stepped back to Neville and they began to talk quietly as they waited to see if the potion had any effect. They waited almost an hour before Neville began to get discouraged. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," he said quietly.

"Their bodies have been in this state for years, it could take hours before we see any change. Don't give up yet, Neville," Hermione said.

"Neville?" a new voice asked.

Both Gryffindors looked to the source of the voice to find Alice Longbottom who, for the first time in many, many years, had clear eyes and was staring at her son with a mix of recognition and confusion on her face. Neville's eyes widened. "Mum?" She cocked her head to the side. Neville moved closer to the bed, slowly, as if afraid that if he made one wrong move, she would return to her former condition. "Mum. It's Neville. Do you know who I am?"

She looked at him as he sat next to her bed. "Neville," she said, the sound of recognition in her voice. She hesitantly raised her hand to touch his cheek. "Neville. My baby boy." Neville had tears forming in his eyes as he leaned his face into his mother's touch.

"Alice?" a new voice said. The three turned to look at Frank Longbottom who seemed very confused. Alice immediately recognized her husband and squeezed his hand with her free one. He didn't respond to his wife and instead looked his son. He seemed confused as to who his wife was talking to until he looked into his eyes. "Neville?" he asked.

Neville gave him a small smile and walked over to his father's bed. "Hey dad."

Frank looked at his son as if he were studying him. Then, unexpectedly, a large grin grew on his face. "My, you've grown to be quite the looker, haven't you, son?" Neville chuckled then threw his arms around his father, something he returned just as quickly. As they pulled out of the embrace, tears running down both of their faces, Hermione decided it was time to step in.

"Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom, my name is Hermione Granger. I'm the healer that created the potion that you just drank to bring back your memories. I'm sorry to have to do this so soon, but if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to ask you some questions about how much you remember before you lost your memories."

Alice and Frank looked at each other with unease. Neville gave his mother's hand a quick squeeze before she looked back to Hermione. "Would Neville be able to stay with us while we answer these questions?"

Hermione nodded and smiled. "Of course," she agreed. She conjured a chair for herself and Neville then began to ask the Longbottoms questions about what they remembered and if they were feeling faint or nauseous, a possible side effect from taking the potion. They were very cooperative and the longer they spoke with Hermione, the better their memories seemed to become. After an hour and a half of questions, Hermione gave each of them a small dose of a Calming Draught that would keep their nerves relaxed as they adjusted to being aware of the world around them again before leaving Neville with his parents and going to visit Healer Austen.

She was grinning when she entered her boss' office and he perked up at her expression. "What's up?" he said, getting straight to the point.

She sat down in front of his desk and handed him the clipboard without saying a word. He immediately began to skim through her notes, his eyes widening the further he got. When he finished, Hermione was practically bouncing in her seat from excitement and he began to grin as well. "And they're okay? They remembered what happened to them and everything?"

" _Everything_. They even recognized their son even though the last time they saw him he was a baby. I think with some physical and mental therapy, they should be able to return to the outside world within a few months. I want to keep them in the hospital for the time being however, in order to monitor their progress but I think we can move them into their own room now."

Healer Austen was in awe and nodded. "Absolutely. I'll get someone on that right away. As for you and I, we need to hold a press conference as soon as possible and then I sense a promotion in your future."

"A promotion?" she asked, a bit surprised. "To what department, exactly?"

"Well, I was thinking maybe making you the head of the Research Department."

Hermione's jaw dropped. "The entire Research Department? Really?"

He nodded and smiled. "You've worked your butt off so hard on this potion, and with the success rate it's seeing, who knows how many lives you're about to save. I can only imagine the good that you would do in the Research Department."

She had to resist dropping her jaw and instead focused her attention on something else. "Rory, I'm flattered that you would think I would do well there and I hope someday to be able to work in that department, but for now, I think my skills will be more useful where I can work hands on with the patients and monitor their improvement. I truly am honored to be considered for the position but I'm afraid I must decline."

He chuckled and nodded. "I completely understand. Just know that my offer will stand and I'll hold it until you're ready."

She smiled. "Thank you, Rory."

"Anytime, Hermione. Now, you need to go tell your team the good news and I need to organize a press conference."

"Oh, one last thing," she said before leaving. He looked at her expectantly. "I had some help with the changes that we made to the potion."

"How so?" he asked.

"Well, I ran into an old friend of mine while in Colmar and he was always very talented in the subject of potions back at Hogwarts. Anyway, he was helping me toss ideas back and forth as we determined what could strengthen the potion," she paused. "What I'm getting at here is that I'm not comfortable taking all the credit when he helped out quite a bit. If it's okay with you (and I still need to discuss this with him as well) but I'd like to include him as a partner for the final development of the potion since it was with his help that the potion succeeded."

Rory smiled. "Of course. He can sit with us at the press conference too, if he'd like. Who is he?"

"Draco Malfoy," she said.

Rory raised his eyebrows. "I wasn't aware you and Mr. Malfoy were friends."

She shrugged. "We only reconnected while I was gone because we just so happened to be in the same town."

He nodded. "I see. Well, if Mr. Malfoy is up for it, I don't see why he wouldn't be able to be a part of the final release. Please give him my thanks for helping out. And once you get an answer from him, let me know so I know what to say in my speech."

She chuckled. "I will. Thank you, Rory."

"My pleasure, Hermione."

She left his office to head to her own. As she sat down in her chair at her desk, she let go of her professional demeanor for just a moment as she squealed and spun around in her chair excitedly. She was so happy, she felt like she would explode if she didn't tell someone. Then, the perfect person to tell popped into her grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill, she wrote a quick note out then handed it to one of the hospital owls to take to him. She smiled to herself before going to tell her team the good news.

* * *

 _ **P.S. Sorry if Luna seems a bit OOC. In my head while writing this story, Luna's matured quite a bit and even though she's still a bit quirky, she's become a bit more aware of the world around her rather than always being in her head. And her forwardness with Draco comes from being around him so often and picking up pieces of Blaise' personality (like the smirk). That's just how she came out when I wrote her. Sorry not sorry.**_

 ** _Hope you liked the Longbottom part of the story! Please Review!_**

 ** _Stay Golden!_**


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N: You guys are so sweet! I'm so glad you guys all liked the Longbottom plot! Thank you for all your kind words and please keep reviewing!**_

 _ **Tallyho!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 11:**

Draco jumped at the tapping noise on his office window. He turned around to see a small owl holding a letter in his talons; he opened the window to let the bird in. The owl dropped the letter on his desk, flew around the room for a moment, then back out the window. Draco closed it before going back to his desk and opening the letter, noticing it was from St. Mungo's. He furrowed his brows as he opened the envelope but his confusion dissipated as he recognized Hermione's familiar scrawl.

 _Draco,_

 _I have great news. I can't tell you over a letter though because one, you deserve to be told in person about this and two, I don't necessarily trust the owl post since sometimes things land into the wrong hands and this is currently still confidential._

 _Can you meet for dinner tonight?_

 _My place: 64 Virginia Ave. 7pm?_

 _If you can't, we can just floo chat later but I promise, it'll be worth it to hear in person._

 _See you tonight, hopefully._

 _Hermione._

He smiled at the letter and vaguely wondered what was so important that Hermione couldn't tell him via owl. He didn't mind though, as it would give him an opportunity to see her. He wrote a quick reply, accepting her invitation, then handing it to his assistant to take to the owlry before finishing up his work for the day.

Despite being gone for six months, his work had managed to stay on top of business in his absence. Granted, having Blaise as his second-in-command had to do a lot with that but still, it was good to know that his business didn't collapse on itself while he was recuperating from his divorce.

After closing up his office, he returned back to his house to get cleaned up before dinner with Hermione. He took a quick shower and changed into some more comfortable clothing then, noticing he still had another hour before he had to leave, decided to visit with his parents at the Manor. When he arrived, he found them in the library with Lucius sitting at the desk looking over some documents while Narcissa was sitting on the couch, reading a book. She looked up when he entered the room. "Hello dear," she smiled. "How was work?"

He shrugged. "Fine. Nothing major to report."

"I hear Blaise managed to keep everything under control while you were gone," Lucius said.

Draco nodded. "He did. It also helps that I have competent employees but Blaise was always good at keeping everything under control if there was ever an emergency during school. I trust him to do the same with my company."

Lucius nodded, satisfied and returned to his documents. Narcissa rolled her eyes at her husband and patted Draco's hand. "Dinner will be ready in about an hour. Will you be joining us?"

He shook his head. "Not tonight. I-" he debated whether or not he should tell his parents the truth but it wasn't like he was ashamed of Hermione. And he wanted his parents to get to know her, especially since he planned on inviting her to their anniversary party. _Might as well just get it over with now,_ he thought. "I have a date tonight," he said.

Narcissa raised her eyebrows and Lucius made a grunting noise but didn't look up from his papers. "Who with?" his mother asked.

 _Here goes…_ "Do you remember Hermione Granger?"

If Narcissa's eyebrows could have gone any higher, he was sure they would have at his question, not to mention the dropping of the papers Lucius had been messing with. Draco bit his lip as he waited for his parent's to respond. Narcissa was the first to regain composure. "Of course I remember her," she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We had a couple of nice chats while repairing the school after the war. She's a very sweet girl." Draco sighed in relief at his mother's reaction noting that Lucius had still said nothing. "I didn't realize that you two have been seeing each other."

"It hasn't been for long," he said. "We bumped into each other in Colmar (literally) and then just kept running into each other from that point on. Eventually we started talking and just reconnected. You'll remember, we had a sort of friendship while in our last year of school and, well we basically gained it back while in Colmar. I told her about everything that happened with Astoria and she told me that she and Weasley had broken up and about a potion she's been working on and it just kind of continued from there. We just kept talking about well, everything and in the process we grew really close."

"Translation: you fell in love with her," Narcissa said causing Lucius to cough.

Draco's eyes widened. "Mum!"

She chuckled. "I'm not blind, Draco. I can see it in your eyes when you talk about her. You didn't have that look in your eyes whenever you talked about Astoria. I can see that you really care about her."

He sighed. "I do." He looked to Lucius who suddenly found the tips of his hair fascinating. "Dad," Draco said. "Are you okay with this?"

Lucius dropped his hair and looked at his son. "Does she make you happy, Draco?" He nodded and his father sighed. "I'm sure I can get used to the idea of seeing the girl. Are you planning on making this a serious relationship?"

He nodded. "We decided to take it to the next level right before we left Colmar."

Lucius shrugged. "Alright then. If she makes you happy, then by all means go after the girl. I'm not going to put you into another loveless marriage. If and when you marry again, I want it to be for love," he gave Narcissa a small smile as he finished his sentence.

Draco looked between his parents and smiled. "Thank you. Both of you. I appreciate you being so understanding about this."

"We just want you to be happy, dear," Narcissa said, smiling. "Especially after the whole Astoria fiasco, you deserve to be happy. Why don't you invite her to our anniversary party? I'd love to see her again."

Draco nodded and promised he would before bidding his parents goodbye and flooing out of the house. Before going to Hermione's however, he ran to a flower shop and picked up a bouquet of flowers for her then apparated to her apartment. He could see the lights on in the front window and could hear music playing from the other side of the door, letting him know that Hermione was home. He knocked on the door and smiled as he heard the familiar sound of Benji's bark. He could hear Hermione shushing Benji before opening up the door.

He grinned as he saw her. She was dressed in jeans, an oversized sweatshirt, and her hair was pulled back into a messy bun but he still found her as beautiful as ever. She smiled at him and opened the door wider to let him in. "I'm so glad you could make it," she said but didn't get to finish her sentence as he captured her lips into a passionate kiss, closing the door behind him. When they broke the kiss for air, he smiled and pecked her on the nose causing her to giggle.

"It's good to see you too," she joked. He smirked at her and almost pulled her into another kiss before a loud barking interrupted them. They looked down to see Benji at their feet, looking at Draco expectantly. He chuckled at the dog and looked back to Hermione. "These are for you," he said, handing her the flowers.

She smiled and took them. "They're beautiful, thank you." She gave him a quick peck before walking back into the kitchen. "Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes or so. Make yourself at home."

He turned his attention back to Benji who took the opportunity to jump on Draco, nearly knocking him down. He laughed, though, and scratched Benji in his favorite spot: under his chin. "I missed you too, pup," he said. As Benji was satisfied with the attention he had received, he got back down to all fours and wandered off to his bed in the living room. Draco followed him and began to look around the room. He smiled to himself as he saw a variety of books laid out on the coffee table and began to flip through one before getting distracted by the photos she had around the room.

There were a variety of wizard and muggle photos. Most of the wizard photos she had were of her and her friends while the muggle photos mostly consisted of her and two people who he assumed were her parents. He stumbled on one photo that brought a smile to his face. It was a picture of Hermione when she looked to be around eleven or twelve, smiling a big toothy grin with her uncontrollable mane of hair surrounding her as she looked at the camera excitedly holding a letter. As he looked closer, he saw the Hogwarts emblem and realized that it must have been the day she got her Hogwarts letter.

"That was such an exciting day for me," she commented from behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder. "The idea of getting to go to a school where there were people like me was so surreal. Definitely one of the best days of my life, hands down. That hair though… that's a different story."

Draco chuckled and turned around to wrap his arms around her before pulling her into another kiss. She sighed into the kiss, causing Draco to smile. When they broke the kiss, they rested their foreheads together. "I've been spoiled in the last month," he said.

"How so?" she asked.

"I've been able to see you every day. It's going to take a while to get used to seeing you occasionally for the time being."

She chuckled. "Something tells me you'll find a way to push through."

He smirked and gave her another chaste kiss. She smiled at him and pulled back putting a little bit of distance between them but still holding his hand. "Dinner's ready."

He smiled and followed her into the dining room. They enjoyed pleasant conversation while sharing some laughs as well. After dinner, Hermione refilled their wine glasses before they sat down on the couch in the living room together. "Alright," Draco said, looking at Hermione. "What is this great news that you have that you couldn't tell me in a letter."

She grinned. "So, you remember Alice and Frank Longbottom and that they lost their memories due to… an unfortunate incident," she said, not referring to the actual incident that caused them to lose all awareness of everything. Draco nodded. "Well, they were one of the more severe cases that I was hoping to test with the potion. We tested it out on a severe case yesterday and it worked so my boss allowed me to perform a test on the case of my choice so I chose the Longbottoms. Neville was with me during the test and we gave it to his parents and then waited for the potion to take effect. I think the documented wait time was just under an hour.

"Anyway, Neville was starting to get a little discouraged but I reassured him to give it time since his parents have been in that state for such a long time and, I swear, Draco, right on cue, Alice came to. She heard me say Neville's name and repeated it and within a minute or so she recognized him and then Frank did the same. Draco, they remember _everything_ and the more I sat with them and questioned them, the more aware of their surroundings they became and the more their memory improved. The potion worked so much better than we anticipated! I mean, we actually gave the Longbottoms their lives back!" she finished explaining with a gleam of excitement in her eye and a grin on her face. Draco couldn't help but smile back.

"That's great news! So does that mean they'll be able to join society again and live the rest of their lives out normally?"

"That's the goal. Right now, we're keeping them in the hospital to monitor their progress and they're going to need mental and physical therapy in order to help their bodies reconnect with their minds but I'm hoping that they can be released in a few months. Draco, you should have seen Neville's face. I've never seen him look so happy. He was like a little kid at Christmas. He's planning on introducing them to Hannah tomorrow. I'm so happy for him and excited for myself. I can't believe it worked so well."

He smiled and put his hand over hers. "I'm proud of you, Hermione. What you just did for Neville's parents and what you _can_ do for so many others like them is going to change the world."

She smiled and flipped her hand so that they were holding hands. "The success wouldn't have been possible without you, Draco. Without your help, we might have continued fighting this battle for years but you helped speed up the process tenfold. Thank you for all your help."

He shrugged. "It was my pleasure. It was fascinating to hear how the process worked at the hospital and what you wanted to do with it."

She blushed at his praise. "Well, that's actually something else I wanted to talk to you about. My boss, Rory, and I are going to hold a press conference within the next week or so to talk about the potion and explain to the world what it can do. The thing is, though, I would not have been able to do this without your help so I was wondering if you would be alright with me giving you half of the credit."

His eyes widened. "Hermione, no, it's your potion. You deserve all the praise and credit for it."

She shook her head. "It wouldn't feel right to take all the credit knowing that it would not have seen it's success without you. Please, let me announce you as a partner for the development process at least."

He sighed. "Okay, say I agree. What happens then?"

"You'll sit with Rory and I through the press conference, answer a few questions and take a few pictures. Then, once the potion is released for hospital wide use, the profits received from the research sponsors will get split between us."

He furrowed his brows. "Profits?"

She nodded. "Releasing the potion hospital wide is only the first step. Once the money starts to come in from the research paying off and it sees more success, it's going to progressively be sold to hospitals around the world. Our finance department is already predicting that the potion will be one of the most successful breakthroughs St. Mungo's has had in years."

"And all because of you," he smirked.

"All because of _us_ ," she corrected. "You _did_ help solve our problem of what was wrong with the potion and helped us get to the point that we've started to save lives." She paused and watched his face carefully. "So what do you say? Will you sign on as a partner?"

He watched her and couldn't help but smile at the gleam of hope in her eyes. He knew he was done for when his gut told him that he'd never be able to tell her no. "Yes, I'll sign on," he smiled. Her eyes lit up. "I have one condition though: any profits that are supposed to come my way, I want donated to the research department at the hospital. I want them to have the funds necessary to keep looking up new methods to save lives. It's the least I can do for all the hard work you've put into the potion."

Her eyes softened at his condition and she nodded. "Done." Then, following her impulses, she put her wine glass on the side table then straddled Draco on the couch, smirking at the brief look of surprise on his face. "Someone's being adventurous tonight," he joked.

She shrugged. "It's been a good day," she said before pulling him in for a kiss. He reciprocated the action with fervor and pulled her closer to him. As the kiss deepened, the warmer the room got which led to Draco running his hands under Hermione's sweatshirt and helping her take it off only to reveal a thin t-shirt that showed off her figure. He began to run his hands up and down her back and her sides giving her chills.

It was only as she started to take his shirt off that they moved. She led him to her bedroom only to be pushed against the door as soon as they walked in. It wasn't long before their clothes were strewn all over the room and they were lying next to each other on the bed, breathless. They were tangled together and face to face, listening only to the sound of their breathing. He smiled at her and kissed her gently; she returned the kiss with equal gentleness.

"Hermione," he said, softly against her lips.

"Hm?"

"Are you doing anything November 1st?"

She pulled back to look at him and thought for a moment. "Nope. Why do you ask?"

"My parent's wedding anniversary is that night and my mother, the big socialite that she is, decided to hold a party to celebrate."

"Okay…" she replied, curious to where he was going with this.

"I was wondering if you'd like to come?"

She furrowed her brows. "But, what about your parents? What will they think if I just show up at their party?"

"I told them about us this afternoon," he replied, easing her concerns. "My mum is looking forward to seeing you, and my dad, well, he didn't break out into hives when I told him so I assume he'll be on his best behavior. And Luna and Blaise will be there so you won't be alone and… it'd mean a lot to me if you'd be there. Please?"

She smiled. "I'd love to. Please tell your mother I look forward to seeing her as well."

He kissed her softly. "Thank you."

"Of course." She paused for a moment before speaking again. "So, by you mentioning Luna, I'm assuming you saw her?"

He smirked and nodded. "Yep. She kind of made me spill about our relationship to everyone at lunch today."

She blushed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to spill about it but she and Ginny just kept pushing and pushing until I burst."

He shook his head. "It's alright. It's not like we were _trying_ to keep it a secret. I was just hoping to keep you to myself for a little longer."

She nuzzled closer to him. "You still can," she said. "Behind these walls, it's just you and me. We can forget that the outside world exists, if we wanted."

He smiled. "I'd like that." She returned the smile before kissing him again.


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N: I'm looking forward to your reactions to the next two chapters... Let's just say that we finally get to meet someone who has yet to appear in the story... *evil laughter commences***_

 _ **Tallyho!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 12:**

Two weeks later, Hermione, Draco, Rory, and a few members of Hermione's team were sitting at a long table in a conference room in the Ministry of Magic, talking amongst themselves, Hermione and Draco holding hands under the table, as reporters for the _Daily Prophet_ , Luna for _The Quibbler_ , and a variety of other reporters for different newspapers and magazines set up for the press conference.

Between the two weeks of the Longbottom's revival and the press conference, the potion had been tested out on four other severe cases, all of them seeing immediate success. Hermione and her team had continued to monitor the patients and their recovery process and each one was showing remarkable improvements every day; the Longbottoms especially. They had been slowly brought up to date on everything that had happened since they had been tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange and they handled it better than expected. They hadn't even needed a Calming Draught like Hermione had anticipated. They had improved so much in the last two weeks, Hermione and Rory were hoping to release them right before Christmas, much to Neville's delight.

As they waited, Hermione was taking deep breaths to calm her nerves but still felt like she was about to burst. Sensing her anxiety, Draco rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand and gave her a reassuring smile. She relaxed at his smile and suddenly felt so much more confident knowing that he was going to be with her the entire time. Taking one last deep breath, she braced herself as the reporters sat down to begin the conference.

"We will begin by opening up for questions regarding the potion and the test trials," Rory began. All of the reporters raised their hands. "Yes, you," Rory picked a reporter in the second row.

He stood up. "Healer Granger, what inspired you to begin research for a potion that would repair memories?"

She removed her hand from Draco's to clasp both hands together in front of her before speaking. "I had a patient about a year ago that had accidentally been hit with a Memory Charm but we were able to reverse it quickly and send that patient back on their way. Shortly after that patient left, however, I began to think about how unfair it was that some patients could have their memories repaired so easily while others were expected to spend the rest of their lives in the hospital because their memories could not be so easily repaired. So I decided to look more into options for memory repair but, as we all know, creating a new spell is incredibly difficult but a potion is less so. After a lot of discussion with Healer Austen, a team was created, research began, and _Memento Infigere_ was born."

"What inspired the name and what does it mean?" another reporter asked.

"It means to fix and repair; it was what the ultimate goal of the potion was- and is- when development started," she smiled.

More reporters raised their hands and this time Luna was picked. "Mr. Malfoy, it is my understanding that you helped out with the development of the potion. How is it that you and Healer Granger decided to collaborate?"

He smirked. "Healer Granger mentioned the potion in passing and expressed some frustrations she had with it so I offered my assistance in hopes of helping speed up the development of the potion. As some might remember, we were always competing for the top spot in potions at Hogwarts so, of course, I had to revive an old school rivalry," he joked. The reporters laughed and Hermione chuckled and shook her head. He winked at her before continuing. "We spent days tossing ideas back and forth and having her team try new methods that hadn't been tried yet. One day, on a hunch, I suggested that we try a few things at once and it worked."

Luna nodded, satisfied, and sat down. Another reporter stood up right after her and asked another question on the development of the potion. The press conference continued for another hour and a half, Hermione, Rory, and Draco answering most of the questions before taking a few photos then concluding it and leaving conference room. Hermione took a breath of relief as they walked out of the room and leaned on Draco who wrapped a reassuring arm around her. "You were brilliant in there," he said quietly.

She gave him a small smile. "So were you." She lifted her head from his shoulder to get a better look at him. "Thank you for doing this."

He smiled at her. "Anything for you." He leaned in to kiss her but was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. They looked to the source of the sound to find Rory smirking at them with an eyebrow raised. "I know I said I was okay with you being in a relationship with a partner but that didn't mean that I wanted to see said relationship in action," he joked. Before the press conference, Hermione had told Rory about her relationship with Draco. He was fine with it, despite Draco being a partner for the development of the potion as long as it didn't interfere with her work. She assured him it wouldn't and has so far stayed true to her word.

Hermione blushed. "Sorry, Rory."

He shook his head and chuckled before approaching Draco. "Thank you for joining us today, Mr. Malfoy. I appreciate it," he said as he shook his hand.

Draco nodded. "It was my pleasure, Healer Austen."

Rory smiled and looked to Hermione. "You were brilliant, as always, Hermione," he praised. "We should be getting the response from the conference by Monday morning the latest. In the meantime, go on home and get some rest. You did good today, kid."

She smirked at his nickname for her. From day one he had called her 'kid' on and off but she never took it as an insult. Instead, she found it kind of endearing. "Thanks, boss," she replied. "See you, Monday."

"See you, Monday," he replied before walking off. Hermione and Draco walked to the Apparition point in the Ministry and apparated back to Hermione's apartment only to find Harry waiting for her.

 _The week before, Hermione had sat down Harry and Ron and told them about her relationship with Draco and how they had reconnected in Colmar. As she had finished explaining, a very tense silence had fallen over the room as she waited for her two best friends to say something. She fiddled with her hands, as she sat uncomfortably, bracing herself for the worst._

 _Then it happened._

" _How could you do this, Hermione?" Ron exploded. "_ Malfoy _?! Are kidding me?! How could you betray us like this?"_

" _I'm not betraying you, Ron," she defended. "Draco's grown up and is a really sweet guy-"_

" _He was a Death Eater and a bully and a terrible person!" Ron argued._

" _He was forced to be a Death Eater, apologized to everyone he bullied (including me) when we returned to school for our final year, and how would you know that he's a terrible person if you never tried to get to know him?"_

" _I don't need to get to know him! People like him never change."_

 _She was starting to get angry and clenched her fists. "Didn't the war teach you_ anything, _Ron? You of all people should know that people can change, it doesn't matter who they are. Everyone has the ability to change for the better. You would think after Snape, that you'd figure that out."_

 _Ron turned red. "Snape was different! He actually fought for our cause! Malfoy's just a slimy snake; always has been, always will be! You're an idiot if you think that he's really changed!"_

 _She felt as if he'd just slapped her. He knew that she hated when people insulted her intelligence so doing that himself was stooping to a new low she didn't even know he could reach. Taking a deep breath to hold back the tears, she glared at him and saw regret in his eyes but it didn't ease her anger. She stood up and walked over to the fireplace. "I'm not going to sit here and be abused like this," she said, her voice steady yet cold. "I wanted to tell you two about me and Draco because you're my best friends and you deserved to know. But I refuse to sit here and listen to you tear apart someone I care about and insult my intelligence when you refuse to even listen to reason. I expected more out of both of you." She glared at Harry for good measure, who had stayed silent during the entirety of their visit. Refusing to look back at Ron, she turned around and flooed out of Harry and Ginny's house and back to hers where Draco was waiting for her._

" _How'd it go?" he asked._

 _Immediately, she broke down into tears and fell into his open arms as she explained what had gone down at Harry's place. Draco had grown angry at her two best friends for treating her in such a terrible way but said nothing and instead held her close to him as she cried._

Hermione hadn't spoken to Harry or Ron since that day so seeing one of them in her living room was a bit startling and she immediately went on the defense. "What are you doing here?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

He had the decency to look guilty. "I- I wanted to see how you were doing. I heard about the press conference today and I was curious as to how it went. And… I wanted to apologize."

Her shoulders relaxed somewhat and she turned to Draco who was watching Harry wearily. "Could you give us a moment, please?" she asked quietly.

He gave her a small smile and nodded. "Sure."

As Draco walked out of the living room, she rounded her gaze back onto Harry. "You have ten minutes," she said, not allowing herself to forgive him just yet. Before Harry could speak, however, Draco yelped from the next room. "Hermione! There's a weasel in the kitchen!"

She raised an eyebrow at Harry before following her out of the room and into the kitchen where Draco and Ron were having a glaring contest. Ron's hands were gripping the dining table chair in front of him so tightly that his knuckles were white while Draco looked like a statue, the only sign of movement coming from his chest as he breathed. Hermione walked over to Draco and put a hand on his shoulder which immediately relaxed him and he put an arm around her waist, keeping his eyes on Ron the whole time. "What are you doing here, Ron?" she asked.

He took his eyes off Draco to look at Hermione and sighed at the sight of her standing next to the blonde Slytherin. "I came with Harry to apologize."

She lifted her chin to stare at him straight on before looking to Draco. "Do you think you could take Benji for a walk? I'd like to talk to Harry and Ron alone."

Draco looked at her and his features softened as he gazed at his witch. His lips curved into a small smile as he nodded. "Sure, love." Then he kissed her forehead. To the outsider, the kiss might have been just a form of endearment but Hermione knew what it meant, as did Harry and Ron. It was a warning to the latter two: Draco was silently stating to the two of them that if they hurt her - _his witch_ \- again, there would be hell to pay. While Hermione would usually just roll her eyes at someone trying to protect her, when she could very well take care of herself, Draco had become her rock while Harry and Ron had stopped talking to her and she found the gesture sweet. It was his way of proving to not just Harry and Ron but to her as well that he cared about her and he didn't want to see her hurt by _anyone_ , her best friends included. She gave him a grateful smile, expressing her thoughts to him silently, and he returned it, understanding what she was trying to say, before putting Benji on his leash and taking him for a walk around the neighborhood.

As soon as Draco walked out the door, Hermione gestured to the dining room table, signalling for the two boys to sit. They complied and she sat across from them, still keeping her guard up. They were silent for a few moments. "Well?" she said, expectantly.

Harry spoke first. "I'm so sorry, Hermione. I kind of went into shock after you told us about you and Malfoy and I just didn't know how to react. I didn't mean to hurt you, I swear."

She crossed her arms. "Did Ginny send you?" she asked, ignoring Harry's apology.

"No," he said too quickly. She raised an eyebrow and he looked down. "Yes," he said quietly. "But we also came on our own accord because we feel really bad about what happened," he defended.

She looked over to Ron who had stayed silent so far. "You're awfully quiet," she mused. "Did you finally learn that if you can't say anything nice then to not say anything at all?"

He dropped his head in shame. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I shouldn't have insulted you like that. And… I shouldn't have said that about Malfoy. You were right. People _can_ change and I… well, I guess I'm a bit too stuck on old school rivalries to try and look at him in a different light. And, I'm still protective of you. Even if we're not engaged anymore, you're still one of my best friends, Hermione, and I'm going to try and protect you any way I can, even if you don't want it."

She rolled her eyes. "With the amount of times that I saved your lives in school, you would think that you two would have figured out that I'm not the one that needs protecting."

Harry chuckled. "We realize that now." He paused and leaned forward. "Do you think you could forgive us, Hermione?"

She thought about it for a moment. "On one condition: you give Draco a chance. You try to get to know him as a _person_. I don't care if you become friends with him, because I'm pretty sure that wouldn't happen but I want you to be civil to him and treat him with respect. I will request that he does the same."

Harry and Ron looked at each other for a moment, as if having a silent conversation with each other before looking back to her. Both men nodded. "We'll try our best," Ron promised.

She smiled, then. "Thank you." She stood up and pulled both of them into a hug. "Of course, I forgive you, you idiots." She pulled back and looked at them both. "But if either of you do something like that to me again, I will hex both of you so hard, you'll be in St. Mungo's for a _month_. Understand?" Both of them nodded then pulled Hermione back into another hug.

She pulled out of the hug and immediately, both boys began to bombard her with questions regarding the potion and the Longbottom's recovery. She answered their questions happily, despite having just answered a lot of the same ones earlier that day during the press conference, because she was happy to have Harry and Ron talking to her again. They had been talking for just over half an hour when Draco walked back into the flat with Benji flying past him to greet Hermione happily. She smiled at her furry companion and scratched him under his chin.

Harry and Ron stood up as Draco entered the kitchen and stood by Hermione. "We should probably get going. I have to work in the tomorrow and Ron leaves for training in the morning," Harry said. They each gave her a hug and apologized once more. "See you soon, 'Mione," Ron said. He nodded to Draco before leaving.

"Potter. Weasley," he said, watching the two men floo out of the house. He watched them leave, smiling as he felt Hermione's small arms wrap around his waist. He turned to face her and wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "That seemed to go well," he mused.

She nodded and looked up at him. "I made them promise to be civil to you anytime they're around you on the condition that you're civil as well."

He scrunched his nose. "Do I have to be nice?" he said.

She rolled her eyes. "If you want to be with me, then yes," she said.

He sighed and kissed her nose. "Manipulation tactics. Nice. You sure you shouldn't have been put in Slytherin?"

She chuckled and nodded. "I'm far too reckless for my own good."

He feigned surprise. "You? Reckless? _No_!" he joked. He dodged a playful slap from her and instead pulled her into a kiss before she could come after him again.


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/N: Incredibly short chapter alert! Sorry in advance but the next one is longer to make up for it. For those of you following my sequel to When the Day Met the Night, the final chapter was posted tonight. As for this one, there's still two more chapters and then we're done but FEAR NOT! I have another story that I'm writing right now so you guys will hear from me again very soon. In the meantime, please welcome the one and only, Astoria Greengrass...**_

 _ **Tallyho!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 13:**

Narcissa and Lucius' anniversary party came quicker than expected. Draco had stayed at the Manor to help his parent's set up while Hermione stayed at work. He offered to pick her up before the party but she declined, saying she'd be working all day and it wouldn't be fair to make him wait for her. She reassured him that she would be at the party, however, which nullified any doubts he had about her attending.

The party had been going for just a little over an hour and Hermione still hadn't shown; yet. He was starting to get a bit worried but Luna reassured him that Hermione would come and if that something had happened, she would have sent him an owl. He nodded at her reassurance and instead distracted himself by talking to Theo and Blaise about the upcoming Quidditch World Cup.

"Are you going to go to the Cup?" Blaise asked.

Draco shrugged. "I haven't decided yet. I've heard Rio de Janeiro is beautiful but I also know that it's going to be incredibly hot and I'm not sure I want to sit through that."

Blaise nodded and suddenly, Theo perked up. "Speaking of hot, is that… _Granger_?"

Draco turned around, missing Daphne slap Theo on the back of his head, to find Hermione walking into the room from the travelling room where the floo was. "Hermione!" Luna said, excitedly. She left Blaise's embrace to greet her friend, Draco following close behind. As he got closer to her, his heart stopped as he saw what she was wearing. She was in a floor length black gown with a lace bust and capped sleeves. Her hair was curled and pulled back into a messy chignon with loose curls falling around her face and she had a light amount of makeup on. It was like the Yule Ball all over again, all eyes were on her but this time, she was here with _him_.

She smiled at Luna and gave her a quick hug before meeting Draco's eyes. She grinned as she saw him and he returned the smile before pulling her into a hug. "You look beautiful," he told her.

She blushed. "Thank you."

He smiled and kissed the top of her head as they walked back to their small group, Luna chatting away happily. As they reached the other three, Blaise smiled and pulled Hermione in for a bone crushing hug causing her to laugh. "Blaise, I can't breathe!" she said.

He let her go. "Oops, sorry!" She chuckled and shook her head then shook hands with Theo and Daphne. She stood next to Draco and chatted with his friends with ease as if she were born to socialize at a party of this scale. Draco smiled and admired her confidence, knowing that she was probably very nervous but hid it incredibly well. His smile fell slightly as he saw his mother approach their group.

"Miss Granger," Narcissa said, smiling at the brunette. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

"You as well, Mrs. Malfoy," Hermione replied, shaking her hand. "Thank you for inviting me."

"The pleasure is all mine, dear girl. I'm glad you were able to join us," she smiled. "I also wanted to congratulate you. Draco was telling me about the success of your potion. I admire the hard work you put into it and the lives that you've changed so far. I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future."

Hermione beamed. "Thank you, Mrs. Malfoy, that means a lot."

Narcissa smiled at Hermione and struck up a conversation with the rest of the group. Draco wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist and lightly kissed the top of her head, making Narcissa smile to herself before going back to a conversation with Blaise.

"Oh hell no," Daphne suddenly said. Everyone looked at her to find her staring at something across the room. Everyone turned to where she was looking and Hermione heard Draco quietly gasp.

Standing across the room, on the arm of a handsome man, was none other than Daphne's sister and Draco's ex-wife: Astoria Greengrass.

* * *

 ** _P.S. I know, I'm terrible to leave you guys hanging there but it'll be worth the wait when the next chapter gets posted tomorrow._**

 ** _Link for Hermione's dress:_** ** _._**

 ** _Also, I'm being told by multiple people that they can't use the link to get to the dresses; Fanfiction doesn't allow copy and paste on stories (with good reason) so what I recommend is to type out the link in a separate tab and hopefully that will work. I'm sorry I don't have anything better but we have to work with what we have._**

 ** _Please review!_**

 ** _Stay Golden!_**


	14. Let's Make A Deal

_**Please excuse this interruption but I think you'll like what you're about to read..**_

 ** _So a lot of people are freaking out about my cliffhanger in the last chapter and, nice person that I am, I decided that I will post the next chapter tonight..._**

 ** _On one condition: I want ten more reviews by 11pm (U.S. Mountain Standard Time) tonight. If I can get those reviews, I will post the next chapter tonight._**

 ** _You have just under two and half hours. Something tells me you'll be able to manage._**

 ** _Good luck!_**


	15. Chapter 14

_**A/N: You guys are awesome! Way to go on the ten reviews, you slammed those out! So, as a woman of my word, here is the next chapter!**_

 _ **Tallyho!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 14:**

Hermione studied her and immediately felt inferior in every way. Astoria looked gorgeous: she was in a navy strapless mermaid gown with a sweetheart neckline and a skirt that flared out at her knees and her long brown hair falling over her shoulders in soft curls. She looked like a princess at the ball and Hermione suddenly felt underdressed and like she wasn't good enough to be at the Manor, let alone with Draco.

Hermione wasn't one to compare herself to other girls but it was incredibly hard to not feel inferior compared to her boyfriend's ex-wife. Sensing her uncertainty about herself, Draco tightened his grip on her waist and pulled her close to whisper in her ear. "You're twice the woman she is, Hermione. Don't worry about her. Besides, I've always had a thing for Gryffindors." He winked at her as she looked up at him and relaxed at his words. She turned back to look at the man on Astoria's arm.

Sean Andrews didn't appear to be too much on the surface. He had bright blue eyes, dark hair, gave a quiet air of superiority and seemed to barely acknowledge the beautiful witch on his arm. It was well known that the Andrews family had money; not as much as the Malfoys but they were still quite wealthy. Sean Andrews was the heir to the Andrews fortune and felt since he had a healthy inheritance coming, he didn't need to work and instead, spent his days lounging around his family's estate and spending huge amounts of money on a private island he got as a birthday present from his parents three years ago. It seemed he and Astoria were perfect for each other.

"Well," Luna muttered, "she always did like to make an entrance."

"What the hell is she doing here?" Blaise asked.

"Your father invited her," Narcissa said to Draco, simply.

Draco's head snapped to his mother. "He did _what_?!"

Narcissa rolled her eyes. "Really, Draco, don't act like he's the villain. He invited her because he knew that she would bring Sean and he was hoping that you two would be able to discuss business and see if he would be willing to become a partner with the company. It would bring more business for both of you."

"I'd rather kiss a hippogriff," Draco said, angrily.

His mother shook her head. "Suit yourself. But, like it or not, Astoria is still an important member of wizard society and, even if I don't like her, not inviting her would have caused more harm than good considering the girl is far closer with Rita Skeeter than I'd like her to be. We don't need anymore bad press so you stay on your best behavior and no fighting with Andrews. The last thing we need is Skeeter to get whiff of a spat between you two and for it to end up in the papers." Narcissa kissed her son's cheek and smiled at Hermione before wandering off back to her husband.

Draco groaned. "Unbelievable."

Daphne sighed. "I'm so sorry, Draco. Had I known she was coming-"

He shook his head. "It's not your fault, Daph. And I know my parents mean well but I swear sometimes they just act on impulse which kills me."

"Maybe they're secretly Gryffindors," Hermione said quietly. Everyone heard her though and looked at her. She blushed. "Sorry," she said.

Blaise was the first to react by breaking out into hysterical laughter. Luna smirked at Hermione and Theo and Daphne struggled to control their laughter. Draco smiled at her and shook his head, chuckling quietly. "The worst part about that statement, is I'm wondering if you're right," he said, eliciting more laughter from Hermione and his friends. His smile fell slightly, however, as he saw Astoria and Andrews walking towards them.

"Here we go," Daphne muttered before putting on a strained smile. "Storie!" she exclaimed. "I didn't know you were going to be here!"

Astoria gave her sister a half-hearted hug. "It's good to see you Daph. Hello, Theo," she said, with disdain as she looked to her brother-in-law. He nodded to her, staying silent. "How's little Daniel?" she asked, looking back to her sister as she referred to her nephew.

"He's just fine. He's already crawling and attempting to talk." Daphne seemed to be controlling herself around her sister. Draco knew she loved to talk about her son but Astoria hadn't taken it well when Draco had been named godfather but Astoria had been snubbed due to her infidelity (Daniel had been born a month after Draco left for Colmar). He could see his ex-wife's features strain as she had to live with knowing that her own sister had denied her the opportunity to be the godmother to her only nephew and took silent pride in that he was on Daphne's good side at the moment.

Astoria cleared her throat and brushed some hair over her shoulder. "I'm glad to hear he's well," she said in a strained voice. Then she smiled to Blaise and Luna. "Hello Blaise, Luna." She turned her gaze to her ex-husband. "Hello, Draco."

"Astoria," he said, his voice stern. Astoria looked Draco over with an expression he couldn't read then followed her gaze to the small witch next to him. She looked at her curiously. "I don't think we've met, Miss…?"

"Hermione Granger," she said, summoning her Gryffindor courage when speaking to the former Slytherin. She stuck her hand out for Astoria to shake. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Greengrass."

Astoria struggled to hide her sneer as she weakly shook Hermione's hand then dropped it quickly, as if she were afraid Hermione would do something to her. She leaned on Andrews and placed her hand on his chest. "This is my fiance, Sean Andrews. Seany, this is my sister Daphne, my brother-in-law, Theo, some old friends from Hogwarts, Blaise, Luna, Draco, and… Miss Granger." Hermione noticed how Astoria didn't say her first name but made a point not to react. Astoria was looking to get under Hermione's skin and there was no way in hell that she was going to let her win. The man next to her cleared his throat. "Granger. Aren't you the Healer that created _Memento Infigere_?" Sean Andrews said. Hermione turned her gaze to the blue eyed wizard standing in front of her. She nodded. "You've heard of my potion?" she asked.

He nodded. "My father is one of the sponsors."

Hermione had to control her eyes from widening and felt Draco tense against her. _You have got to be kidding me,_ she thought. "Really? I didn't think a development corporation would be interested in the inception of a new potion; let alone the _Andrews_ Corporation."

He shrugged. "My father thought it would be a good investment. We're always interested in new projects that could be beneficial for others."

"For others or for you?" she said, accusingly. Theo choked on the champagne he was drinking and the color drained from Andrews' face as Draco smirked at her. Before either Andrews or Astoria could respond, he cleared his throat. "Hermione, I think it's time we get in that dance that you owe me," he suggested.

She looked at him confused but when she saw the hint in his eyes, she quickly recovered and nodded. "Yes, I suppose we should. It was lovely to meet you Miss Greengrass; Mr. Andrews," she smiled at them before taking Draco's hand and following him to the center of the room where a variety of couples were dancing. He pulled her close and they began to dance in small circles.

"I think you broke Andrews," Draco mused.

She chuckled. "Normally I would feel bad about insulting someone like that but something tells me that his ego could use a bit of deflating."

"Remind me not to get on your bad side _ever_ again," he joked.

"Oh don't worry. Something tells me you'll remember," she winked.

He smirked at her and rested his forehead against hers. "Thank you."

"For what?" she asked.

"For coming tonight; for letting me talk about Astoria; for making me smile again and welcoming me back into your life with open arms despite the fact that we hadn't spoken in six years. For being my best friend."

She smiled at him and held back the tears that threatened to spill over. "I- I'm your best friend?" she asked quietly.

He nodded. "Yeah."

She sniffed and bit her lip. "You're my best friend, too."

He smiled at her before closing the distance between them and kissing her. It was the first real kiss that they had shared in public since returning to London. They had snuck a couple of chaste kisses behind menus at restaurants and behind bookshelves at the bookstore but they had never shared a real kiss in public before. This was the moment that their relationship (that had been speculated about ever since they got back) was finally made known to the rest of the world. There was no turning back from this; and neither one cared. When they broke the kiss, Draco grinned at her and began to spin her around the dance floor, never taking his eyes off her.

Narcissa and Lucius were watching the scene unfold in front of them. The former smiled fondly at the couple while the latter just looked on, a mix of curiosity and indifference on his face. "Are you alright, my love?" Narcissa asked, linking her arm with his as they began to walk around the room.

Lucius nodded.

"Are you alright about Draco and Hermione?" she asked. Again, he nodded. She sighed. "I'd appreciate it if you could tell me your thoughts, darling. It makes it so much easier rather than attempting to understand your silent responses."

He smirked at his wife. "While I do find it strange, considering their history, I can't say I'm very surprised. They always had a weird sort of passion for each other. The kind where they would either kill each other or love each other madly. I'm glad to see that it's the latter."

Narcissa smiled and leaned her head on Lucius' shoulder. "You're happy for him? Truly?"

He kissed the top of his wife's head. "Truly, my love. Marrying him to Astoria was a mistake; one I'm sure he won't make again. If he's happy with Granger, then I can get used to the idea of having her around."

His wife grinned and gave him a soft kiss before returning their attention to their guests.

Meanwhile, Astoria was standing off to the side of the room alone while Andrews schmoozed some of the guests, watching her ex-husband twirl the small brunette around the dance floor. She heard someone come up to her but didn't react. She knew who it was.

"Something wrong, dear sister?" Daphne said, nonchalantly, watching Draco and Hermione smile and laugh as they danced together.

Astoria shook her head. "No, not at all."

Daphne snuck a look to her sister and saw the strain on her face. Was that regret she saw in her sister's eyes? "You sure? You seem upset."

The brunette sighed quietly. "He never looked at me like that," she said quietly, observing the way that Draco's eyes never left Hermione nor did his smile ever fade.

Daphne tried not to roll her eyes. "Actually, he did. When you first started dating, he looked at you like you were Aphrodite. You never noticed, though, because you were too busy pursuing his money."

Astoria glared at her sister but Daphne was unphased. "Don't look at me like that, Storie. You know just as well as I do that you only married him because you wanted the title of Lady of the Manor and you wanted their money. He would have given you the world but it wasn't enough for you and when you got bored, you ran into the arms of another man, driving him away. Now, he's found someone else and he's _happy_. And I can promise you that she doesn't give two shits for the title of Lady of the Manor. If anything, she'd probably turn the title down and keep working at the hospital just because she could, not because she had to." Daphne paused and sighed as she saw her sister accept that she was right. She squeezed her shoulder. "I love you, sis, which is why I'm telling you to _please_ think this through with Andrews before you marry him. Money will only buy you happiness for so long.

"I know you probably don't want to hear this, but I think you should do what Draco did and go on a vacation for a while to clear your head. Go do some soul searching. You may find that it'll do some good for you. You might even find what you're looking for."

Astoria sighed. "Do you hate me, Daph?" she asked, looking to her older sister.

Daphne's eyes softened at her sister and she pulled her into a hug. "No, Storie, I could never hate you," she said, pulling out of the hug. "I won't lie, I'm a bit disappointed in how you treated Draco and the way you left him. I'll always forgive you but this _will_ take a while to move on from. Slytherins look after their own and sometimes that means putting friends over family; especially when said family is in the wrong. But I'd never turn my back on you and I could never hate you. Just please understand that this will take time to move on from."

Astoria nodded. "I suppose that's fair."

Daphne smiled and squeezed her sister's shoulder before returning to her husband and pulling him onto the dance floor. Astoria continued to watch Draco and Hermione until Andrews caught her attention and pulled her into a conversation with a potential investor.

As the song ended, Draco smiled and took Hermione's hand. "Come on, I have something I want to show you."

She smiled and followed him out of the ballroom and into the gardens. There was a large archway that was covered in roses that he led her through that brought them into what looked like a maze of every type of flower imaginable. He picked an orchid from one of the bushes and gave it to her. She blushed and took it, giving him a small kiss on the cheek in thanks. They continued to walk through the garden, hand in hand before Draco led her into a clearing and stopped. She looked around confused. "What are we doing here?" she asked.

He smiled at her. "Just wait," he said. So they did. They waited for five minutes in a comfortable silence before Hermione saw what he brought her out there for. All at once, the clearing lit up with fireflies. They began to fly all around the clearing and around Draco and Hermione, lighting up the field with their small bodies. Hermione giggled as one landed on her fingers briefly before flying off.

Draco grinned at her. "Hermione," he started.

"Yes?" she replied, looking at him expectantly.

"I- There's something I have to say and I don't quite know how to do it so I'm just going to try and say it straightforward." She waited patiently as he gathered his bearings. "I-" _Just say it, you idiot!_ "I love you," he confessed. "I know it's only been a couple of months since we reconnected and started seeing each other but I know what I feel and I can't keep it in anymore. I love you, Hermione. When we ran into each other in Colmar, I was incredibly depressed and lost and then you came back into my life and suddenly, the sun wasn't such a burden on my back, I could get out of bed easier, and I found myself smiling more; all because of you. All because of a day that we ran into each other in the middle of a farmer's market.

"I won't lie, Benji did help some too. He was always so friendly whenever we ran into each other; he always came up to me with a wagging tail and the dog version of a smile on his face which in turn made me smile. You and your happy dog made it easier for me to recover from one of the worst parts of my life. And in the process, I grew to care about you and even fell in love with you. I didn't mean to, it… it just happened." He laughed nervously. "I'm not asking you to marry me, Hermione; I think we could both agree that we should probably date a little longer before the possibility of that comes up but what I am asking is just for you to take a leap of faith and pursue this crazy relationship with me to the point of no return and stick with me no matter what, even when I'm being a royal pain in the ass. Because, I- you're my better half, Hermione. I truly believe that. And I will do whatever I can in my power to prove to you that we can make this work. What do you say?"

Hermione tried to hold her tears back but failed. Before he could ask what was wrong, Hermione threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. He returned the kiss with equal passion and wrapped his arms around her waist tightly, not wanting to ever let her go. When they broke the kiss for air, Hermione looked Draco in the eyes. "I love you too," she whispered breathless. "And as long as I have you beside me, I'd be willing to do anything with you. You're _my_ better half, Draco and I've never felt like this with anyone before. Yes, I will stay with you and make this relationship work no matter how many times we may want to kill each other."

He chuckled and grinned at her before kissing her again. Then, in a field full of fireflies, he picked her up and spun her around, eliciting laughter from both parties as they relished in the happiness of being madly in love with each other.

* * *

 _ **P.S. Okay, some quick things:**_

 _ **First, before any of you question it, Lucius is a business man. Always has been, always will be. Which, in my head, means that even though he's engaged to his ex-daughter-in-law, Sean Andrews has the potential to be really good for the Malfoy business (either as an investor or a partner). Lucius didn't invite Astoria and Andrews to spite his son; he invited them because he saw potential for the family business to grow. Remember, it was his business before Draco took over which means that he still keeps tabs on how things are going there. That's why Lucius invited them; just wanted to make that clear.**_

 _ **Second, thank you guys so much for all your wonderful reviews! It means a lot that you guys were willing to work with me in exchange for an extra chapter. (I really wanted to post this chapter sooner too so it was for both of us).**_

 _ **Thirdly, link for Astoria's dress:**_ ** _pin/572309065125376682/_**

 ** _Lastly, to Guest: Read my PSA at the end of Chapter 4 in Hogwarts: The Next Generation. I made my feelings on reviewers who give authors shit for "holding reviews hostage," as you so kindly put, in exchange for chapters VERY clear. I have been updating this story once a day ever since I finished it but, tonight, I wanted to post a second for my lovely readers who have been super supportive of this story but I wanted a little extra love in return. I fail to see how that's a bad thing._**

 ** _You don't like it, fine. Go read something else. But DO NOT suggest that I am asking for reviews in exchange for chapters because I'm not a good writer. I know I'm not JKR, but let me tell you, my writing has improved so much since I started writing Fanfics and I don't need someone to suggest that I'm not a good writer just because I wanted some reviews. It is not your place to say how good of a writer I am. That's my job._**

 ** _So do us both a favor and if you don't like that I "held reviews hostage" in exchange for an extra chapter (for crying out loud, I posted THREE chapters tonight! TWO for the same story!), go read something else because I will not stand for that. Au revior!_**

 ** _P.P.S. There will be an epilogue posted tomorrow and then this story is done. Thank you to everyone for all the love and support! You guys make my days!_**

 ** _Stay Golden!_**


	16. Epilogue

_**A/N: I'm so glad you guys all liked the last chapter! It was one of my favorite's and I'm so happy you guys loved it as much as I do. Thank you all for all your wonderful words of kindness, support, and love for this story. You keep me going when I sometimes question the insanity of writing fanfics. So thank you.**_

 ** _Some people were asking that I continue this story (like a sequel) or even include a scene between Draco and Lucius after the party and dealing with the aftermath of Lucius' business attempt. I'm sorry to say that I won't be doing that right now as school started today (yuck) and the Dramione story that I have in the works right now is a pretty big project in itself since I'm taking a different route with this one. However, if I decide to make some outtake scenes from this story, I promise you guys will be the first to know._**

 _ **This is the end of The Serpent, the Lioness, and the Dog but, like I said, I do have another Dramione story in the works so you guys will hear from me soon.**_

 _ **Thank you again, guys! You make my days with your reviews and follows/favorites!**_

 _ **Tallyho!**_

* * *

 **Epilogue: Six Years Later**

Hermione was sitting up in bed, smiling at the small bundle in her arms. After eighteen hours of labor, one would think that she'd be exhausted, but oddly enough she was bursting with energy. She assumed it was because she was just overtired and her body was having trouble figuring out the difference between exhaustion and adrenaline. She felt a shift at the end of the bed and smiled as Benji repositioned himself to curl up next to Vinnie, the German Shepherd she and Draco had adopted shortly after moving in together.

Hermione had decided on an at home birth for her second child after the paparazzi had nearly knocked over the incubator that her first born had been in after giving birth at St. Mungo's to her daughter. She and Draco had been severely frustrated at the lack of privacy they had received and agreed that, in order to keep the press away, their next child would be born in the comfort of their own home which is why she was currently sitting in her own bed, humming quietly to her newborn son with the two dogs at the foot of the bed guarding her and the baby.

Speaking of her family, Draco quietly opened the door to their bedroom and smiled at her as he saw that she was awake. "Hey," he said quietly.

"Hey," she smiled.

"Someone wants to see you," he said, opening the door wider to let their three year old daughter, Isabelle Grace, into their room. She was a spitting image of her father, curly platinum blonde hair, grey eyes, and pointed features; from the day she started talking, Draco declared that she would be a Slytherin. Hermione usually just rolled her eyes and always gave him a cryptic "We'll see" which would always make him slightly nervous.

"Hi, Izzy," Hermione smiled at her little girl.

She returned the smile. "Hi, mummy."

"Want to come meet your brother?" she asked.

Isabelle nodded and Draco picked her up as he made his way over to sit next to his wife and son, putting his daughter on his lap. As soon as she was on the bed, she crawled over to her mother and studied the small bundle in her arms. "What's his name?" she asked.

Hermione smiled at Draco before looking to her daughter. "Nathan Oliver Malfoy."

"N-Nathan!" Isabelle exclaimed, excited that she could pronounce her brother's name. Draco smiled at his little girl. "That's right, Izzy! Good job!"

She looked back down to the small baby and cocked her head to the side. "He looks like a red potato!"

Hermione and Draco had to struggle to control the volume of their laughter, careful not to wake baby Nathan. "That's because he was just born, sweetheart," Draco explained. "He'll look more normal as he grows."

Isabelle nodded in understand and yawned and layed down on her father's lap, and he began to run his fingers through her curls. Hermione smiled at the two and glanced back down to her son. "He's perfect, Draco," she whispered. "Both of our babies are," she said, smiling at her daughter.

Draco kissed her temple. "Yes, they are, and _you,_ Mrs. Malfoy were brilliant as always. I'm proud of you."

She smiled at him and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. "Thank you, my love," she said, yawning.

He took his sleeping son out of his wife's arms and placed him in the crib next to their bed before snuggling up next to his wife and daughter, who had nudged her way in between them. Draco chuckled and kissed both of their foreheads, Hermione already asleep and Isabelle not far behind her. "Goodnight, my loves," he whispered.

He smiled to himself as he observed his wife and daughter sleeping, his newborn son fast asleep as well, and the two dogs guarding the family at the foot of the bed, even though they were also sleeping. Draco leaned over and scratched behind both of their ears before crawling into bed with his wife and daughter.

 _My little family_ , he thought happily, before falling into a peaceful sleep, himself.

 **The End.**

* * *

 _ **P.S. The link for Astoria's dress seemed to cut half of it off so just put the rest of the link in the previous chapter.**_

 _ **Thanks again, guys!**_

 _ **Stay Golden!**_


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